Dark Angel: Light within Darkness
by alexajaye
Summary: He thought she was just another human. She thought he was just another strange boy. But they will both discover that neither is what they appear to be. Pre-Twilight. AU. OCs. First Twilight fiction.  Give it a shot! You know you want to! Now complete.
1. A New Home 1

***This is what I guess you could call a repost***

**Thanks to my lone reviewer, I've decided to break my story down into shorter chapters, and I hope this helps everyone who's read it so far enjoy it a little better. Though I have to admit, it was strange that most people who read only really read Chapter 1. Please read all the chapters. I promise you'll benefit from it.**

**And I really want to know what you all think. It will really help motivate me to show it to you all.**

**On with the reading now.  
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_**A New Home**_

_**September, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

My first day of school in Hoquiam, Washington was probably meant to be something special, but honestly, I'd been to better schools, and there wasn't anything special about this one. It was actually rather depressing here. The teachers were small-minded and easily offended. The text books were secondhand and so far beneath my education level that it was ridiculous. And the students were so simple and innocent. I half-expected most of them to stare at me all day.

Carlisle and Esme had insisted on driving with me the first day to make sure I knew where to go, but it wasn't like I could get lost. The school was situated inside the community park, not far from Emerson Avenue. And when Carlisle walked me into the front office so I could sign in, the secretary couldn't keep her eyes off him. It was so rude.

Perhaps I should give you a little bit of background information. This isn't the first time I've been to high school, although it was the first time in quite a little while I'd pretended to be this young. Honestly, I didn't see how anyone could think I was 15. I was already over six feet tall, and though I didn't usually have any stubble to speak of, I still looked older than your average fifteen-year-old boy.

And the reason why this isn't the first time I've been to high school is because I'm much older than 15. In fact, with it being September of 1945, I'll be 44 years old as of June, and for 28 of those years, I've been probably the least enthusiastic of my family that now includes Rosalie and Emmett being what we all are: Vampires.

Oh, not the traditional, mythological kind that burn in the sun and turn into bats. Those stories were created to prevent normal people from discovering our true existence. We can't turn into bats, though that would be fairly useful in certain situations, nor do we burn in the sunlight, even if being in the sun would shock a lot of people if they ever spotted us. My skin doesn't react the way you'd expect it to when the sun shines on it, since it looks marble-hard, is ice cold and becomes nearly translucent in direct sunlight.

I don't have fangs either, since all my teeth are pure white, razor sharp and can cut through the jugular of a wild animal with ease. We've tried the last several years to exist without human blood, deciding instead to live off the blood of animals – which while it doesn't exactly smell or taste the same, it does have some of the same properties and keeps us as strong as any Human blood would. Some days, I actually prefer animal blood, as it allows me to retain a great deal of my Humanity. However that makes any sense.

Carlisle had gone to great lengths to enroll me, Rosalie and Emmett into the local High School, drawing up all the proper documents and forging three new birth certificates so we could attend school as invisibly as possible. Rosalie and Emmett, who apparently looked a little older than me, had ended up being a junior and a senior while I was relegated to the sophomore class, and even though I was older than Emmett in Vampire years, he still tried to tell me how to behave around the girls who were much younger than myself.

It didn't help that I could hear every implied sexual situation he played out for me in graphic detail. He and Rosalie had been going crazy away from me, Carlisle and Esme. It was enough to make me sick of him for almost a month. But I suppose we all recovered when he agreed to keep those thoughts to himself. Being a Vampire had turned Emmett into a horribly overt creature. I was having enough trouble keeping Rosalie from trying to give me advice about girls. When Carlisle had attempted to lecture me about the younger girls' fragility, I did my best to pay attention.

I couldn't really interact in sports, nor could I participate too much in their academics, even if Carlisle had allowed me to enroll in all of the advanced courses I was presented with my first day. It wasn't much. I knew I was setting myself up for being objectified, but I had to play along. Our existence was fragile by itself, so I couldn't push it for now.

So, first day. It was moderately typical, as first days go.

I was able to impress a few of the teachers with my intelligence. I think they expected me to be as uninterested as the rest of the students, but I rather liked school. Even though it could be monotonous at times, every now and then I did learn something interesting. English was a favorite, since I was fascinated by the written language – especially poetry. I had no trouble with Mathematics or Science, and Social Studies was bearable. But History was downright dreadful as of late.

With the War still going on, it was all the teachers could talk about, even at this little school in a little town in the middle of nowhere. I could still sort of remember wanting to enlist in the War, when I'd been 17 in 1918. But I'd contracted Spanish Influenza, and my plans had changed. I suppose one could say I was lucky Carlisle found me and my mother as she was dying of the same thing. He'd been wanting a companion for several years, and there I was, on my deathbed.

People these days didn't take illness as seriously as they should have. My first day at this school, I could see several of the teachers fighting common colds from the wet, temperate climate that was the Pacific Northwest. They truly had no idea how to take care of themselves. In 1945, people were scared of other things – like war and poverty. I feared nothing, since I would always be too young to be drafted, and I was perceived as the youngest son of a wealthy man. War and poverty could not touch me.

But they could still affect the people around me. It was all any of the students could talk about, along with the teachers. The boys in my class were all talking about enlisting as soon as they were old enough. They wanted to fight for their country. I honestly could care less about the country. I had other pressing matters to deal with – like the blood and carnage of battle that would more than likely entice me too much to ignore. Even after the last 14 years I'd been back with Carlisle, my will was tested daily. The girls, on the other hand, only spoke of how the war was going to affect how they all lived their lives – as if a war being fought on another continent would reach them in their little community the way they all feared it would.

The boys mostly ignored me unless they had no choice. I was able to give the gym teacher an excuse, expertly written out by Esme, that I was unable to participate for the time being because of an illness I was recovering from. I hoped that once I was settled in, I would be allowed to join my classmates, if not in a diminished capacity. I disliked watching everyone else when I knew I was fully capable of doing what they were doing a hundred times better than they could.

The girls were mostly too shy to speak to me, though many of them stared at me and whispered around me, unaware that not only could I hear what they were saying, but also what they were thinking. Again, it was very rude. But I expected no less.

The first girl to approach me after the first class that day was brave to say the least, and she had some of the most inappropriate thoughts making circles around the inside of her head. From my perspective, as I was from a different era than this girl, women were meant to be respected and cherished. My mother and father had taught me that, of what I could remember, and it was a habit I found difficult to break despite the fact that I avoided people on a whole as a general rule.

This girl was barely 15, blond with bright blue eyes and a demeanor worthy of a woman twice her age. I was immediately reminded of the secretary and her ability to apparently undress Carlisle with her eyes. This girl, whose thoughts were no less prying, looked like someone whose neck I could break in less time than it took her to say her name to me.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer," she said, extending her hand to me as I sat at my table in the cafeteria alone.

Rosalie and Emmett, I remembered, had opted out of going to lunch for the time being so they could spend more time together.

_Oh, my gosh. He's so handsome! I'm being such an idiot. Surely, he wants to have friends. I know I want him to _my _friend._

Images of me kissing her neck and ripping her clothes off shot through my mind, and I instantly understood. It only made sense. All the girls were thinking it, and she just happened to be the poor soul chosen to approach me to see if I was available to play my part in her little human fantasy. Didn't she see I was dangerous? Wasn't it obvious by where I was sitting that all I wished was to be left alone? Couldn't her small human mind comprehend that despite her desires and needs?

I decided to do what I could to dissuade her from thinking such inappropriate thoughts for a girl her age — especially thoughts like that about me.

"If you don't mind," I pressed, watching blood flush her cheeks as her heart sped up, "I really would rather prefer to be left alone."

Her expression changed immediately from one of desire to that of disgust, and she turned her nose up at me, turning away from me without a word even though her thoughts spoke for her loud and clear.

_That was rude. No wonder he doesn't have anyone sitting with him. Well, it's his loss then. At least I'll still be able to torment Brian this year. That new boy has no idea what's he's missing!_

I grinned where she couldn't see, knowing exactly what I would be missing and thanking whatever higher power that might exist for that one small favor. Perhaps she would spread this little encounter through the student body and they would all leave me alone now. Perhaps she would end up doing me a favor after all.

Study period was also an interesting experience as it was a mixture of all the students in the school that included several juniors and seniors — none of which were Emmett or Rosalie. The lone teacher in the room commanded a certain amount of silence over the students, and even though most of the students obeyed his request to remain seated during the hour and a half we were all there, another student approached me from the opposite side of the room.

_I'm just going to say hello, and then if he doesn't say anything back, I guess I'll have to get someone else to help me._

The tenor of her thoughts was gentle and innocent. She was nothing like her classmate as I realized she too was barely fifteen, but she thought like one — especially one from a small town.

"Excuse me," she said softly, and I looked up to see her expression turn startled by my response. Her brown eyes were vivid — which was strange for their color, and the olive tone in her cheeks darkened immediately. She hadn't even believed I would look at her.

"Yes?" I replied.

"You're in my Advanced Mathematics class," she said. It wasn't a question. "Mr. Clarence sat you an aisle away from me."

I nodded. "He did," I confirmed. I remembered her now. Mr. Clarence hadn't been very easy on her that morning.

She extended her hand. "I'm Abigail — Abigail Williams. You're Edward. I heard Mr. Clarence say your name this morning."

Despite wanting to remain as anonymous as possible, I realized she wasn't there to harass me. Her intentions were much more innocent than her classmate's. Perhaps interacting with certain students wouldn't be such a bad idea. I met her halfway, even though I was certain my cold hand would alarm her. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Abigail," I greeted.

She blushed deeper, sitting in the seat next to mine. "The thing of it is," she began, "I'm horrible at math. I always have been. And I noticed how easily you answered all of Mr. Clarence's questions this morning. I was wondering if it might be possible for you to help me. No one in my family has gone to college since my father's grandfather, and all my other grades are good except that one. I hate to ask, since I realize you're new here, but maybe if you helped me, I could show you around."

I considered her offer for the few seconds it took for me to notice all the other students in the room staring at us. She was far too young for me to even consider being friends with, and I didn't want to refuse her in front of her classmates, but it wasn't really a good idea for me to help anyone — even someone who believed they needed it. I was still dangerous even at my most sated, and it got worse with each passing day. Whether I was good at answering math questions or not, she was better off finding a human tutor — one who wouldn't be tempted to attack her if he went too long without hunting or if she happened to get a cut in his presence.

"Abigail," I said after those few seconds, "I can see you believe you need assistance, and I would be more than happy to oblige. However, I don't think it would be a wise course of action for me to tutor you. I am new here, unfamiliar with the layout of the land, as it were, but it's for that same reason that I wouldn't be an appropriate person to help you."

Though I should've expected it, especially with the way her thoughts had been going before she'd spoken to me, I was surprised to see her face become even darker as tears welled in her eyes gently. Clearly, I hadn't chosen the correct response to her request, even though I'd only meant to keep her safe. I didn't know how to alleviate the situation other than to amend my previous statement in the hopes that she would understand that I meant no harm by her.

"Please. I'm sorry," I whispered gently. "It's obvious you believe you need help. If it's only here at school, I would be happy to help you in any way I can."

She wiped a small tear from the corner of her eye, tucking a lock of her medium brown hair behind her ear. "Excuse my behavior," she whispered. "I just can't fail any of my classes. My mother would not be happy with me."

_My father wouldn't be too thrilled either,_ she thought.

"I understand," I told her, despite not really knowing what it felt like to have a parent be disappointed in me for doing my best and still coming up short.

The bell rang then, and I waited for her to rise before following her to the entrance of the room.

"Tomorrow then?" she asked.

I bowed my head. "Tomorrow."

She smiled slightly and moved off in the opposite direction. I followed a different flow of students toward the end of the school thinking the day couldn't get anymore interesting.

At least until I arrived in my last class of the day, English, where the teacher, Mr. Jennings, became even more strangely curious about me than any of the students.

"Where are you moving from, Mr. Masen?" he asked, and I had to quickly think up an answer for him.

"Rochester, New York," I replied, and it was mostly true. I only paused for a 24th of a second before continuing. "My sister's husband wanted to get away from the east coast, because of the war."

"And what exactly does you sister's husband do?" he asked, and I could feel no more than sixteen pairs of eyes focus on me.

Again, I barely paused. "He's a doctor. He works in Aberdeen."

"And he moved here?" Mr. Mason asked suspiciously.

I nodded. "Yes, sir. He wanted us all to have a quiet life."

I tried to speak with as much finality as possible, and he was thankfully satisfied with my answers, moving on to his lesson, which was coincidently about Middle English poetry – one my favorites. I had no trouble keeping up.

The end of the day was probably my favorite part, since both Carlisle and Esme came to the school to retrieve me, Rosalie and Emmett. Other then Abigail, I'd met no one interesting, and I'd made no real attempt to despite the obvious interest three people had seen in me for three completely different reasons, but Rosalie kept babbling on about a girl in her Science class who reminded her of someone she used to know, and Emmett couldn't stop talking about a boy he was already making friends with from his Gym class. So much for the quiet life.

"Maybe you'll meet some more children your age tomorrow," Esme said encouragingly. I knew she didn't want me to be lonely or unhappy, but with the restrictions on my physical life, I couldn't see how my mental health could really survive or thrive in such a simple-minded environment. But it felt good that she at least wanted it for me, since it was obvious she, Carlisle, Rosalie and Emmett had each other. I didn't know for sure whether or not I wanted anyone, but still.

Our house was situated south of town, probably 20 miles or so to keep most of the townspeople from finding it. It was the only three-story Victorian house without a fifty-mile radius of Hoquiam since most of the houses in town were one or two story and not very dissimilar from one another. There was this one other house, but it was supposed to be empty. We'd been in this house a few months now, and I could honestly say I liked it much better than many of the other houses we'd stayed in. Esme fancied herself a decorator, and a house-restorer of sorts, so when Carlisle had found this house, she'd set herself to make it perfect. Even though we'd only been here a little while, I was actually saddened that we would have to leave it one day.

Rosalie and Emmett disappeared upstairs within seconds of us arriving home, and Carlisle resigned to his study. He'd apparently taken the day off from his new job in Aberdeen just so he could see us to school and back, and now that we were back in the safety of the house, I knew he wanted to be with us in the event we had anything we would want to discuss with him. Esme was currently working on the kitchen, since she'd already finished with the living room and most of the upstairs that included our bedrooms, so she drifted off in that general direction. My room was the only one without a bed. I never slept, and only Rosalie and Emmett really ever used a bed on a regular basis, so I didn't need one, and I hadn't asked for one.

I unconsciously followed Carlisle to his study, noticing the boxes of books he'd had shipped here from our previous address. He'd only just began unpacking, pulling out books as he needed them and then resigning them to a specific place on the shelf. He noticed me as soon as I entered the room, only grinning as he pulled a book set out of another box and proceeded to sit at his desk to begin reading.

"Avoiding Rose and Emmett?" he asked with a slight grin.

I returned his grin, extracting a book from one of his boxes on English literature and opening it rather unceremoniously. "You know me too well," I replied, reading a non-specific passage.

"Well, they'll calm down after a few more weeks," he said, also reading, but I noticed he was glancing over a book on Medieval Great Britain. "They were like this in Columbia Falls, remember?"

"I'm actually trying to forget that we were ever there after what Emmett did," I replied as memories from those few years threatened to plague me yet again. So horrendous and completely unnecessary.

"Well, maybe this new school won't be so bad for you," Carlisle said, and I could hear what I thought was hope in his voice even though his thoughts were centered around other things like how I was going to keep everyone from finding out what I was without being a total outcast.

"The teachers are mediocre," I scoffed. "The subjects are barely up to my intelligence level, and the students are for the most part so simple and small-minded that I practically already am an outcast. I doubt any of the people there would be able to comprehend how complex my life actually is."

Carlisle's thoughts focused on the principal whom he'd spoken to when enrolling me, Rosalie and Emmett into the school, and I knew he was thinking I should talk to someone there — even if it was an adult. "Maybe you shouldn't purposefully isolate yourself," he amended from all our previous conversations on the matter of exposure. "Interact with them; just don't overdo it. I'm certain you'll find a way to fit in. You always do," he commented, and I knew he was right. I did have a rather unique ability to adapt.

I drifted away from his desk to the windows that overlooked the forest around our house. "I just don't want to go upstairs right now. Perhaps I'll hunt. Northeast should be far enough away for us to not bother _anyone_, shouldn't it?"

He bowed his head. "It should."

I replaced the book in the box I'd retrieved it from, leaving his office without a word and taking the long way outside to avoid hearing Rosalie and Emmett upstairs in their room. They really knew no boundaries, and maybe it was easy for Carlisle and Esme to ignore them, but without an honest way to occupy my time other than hunting, I didn't have the same luxury.

So, hunting it was. I ran from the house without pause, hitting the forest floor at full speed and forgetting everything else that had happened over the course of the day. I didn't think about the school or the students or the town, and I didn't think about where I was going. I only thought of when I would find my prey. And the moment I was far enough away from civilization, I left my own civility behind me, solidly inside a place where my instinct and experience would lead me to what I sought.

In addition to the people in the town, there were also a great number of animals that populated the immediate vicinity of the town, and it was easy to find the herd I had smelled upon exiting the house. They were exactly due east, but almost northeast and further into Washington than I'd been so far. I'd been honing my skills as a hunter for nearly thirty years, and it was easy enough to sneak up on them. Their heavy hooves crushed the leaves and tree limbs beneath their heavy bodies, but they were no match for me despite being twice my size.

The oldest male was my target as he grazed less than five meters from the others with him, and based on the size of his antlers, I could tell any other hunter would be proud of such a kill. I simply wished to feed off his blood. And he didn't stand a chance at outrunning me. No animal ever stood a chance.

He was easy enough to pick off from the group, and though he had no idea what I was doing, he was obeying my every command — even the ones I wasn't saying. When we were far enough away from the herd, I charged him promptly, taking him down with ease and precision. Only Carlisle possessed more for the hunt as I did. The buck had no opportunity to refuse my attack, letting out a last pained cry before finally giving in and then dying as I drank every last drop of his hot, thick blood.

It was after dark when I returned to the house, discovering it lit up brightly despite only holding four occupants — all of which were currently sitting in the living room around the radio listening to a news broadcast.

"What's going on?" I asked, stepping into the room and sitting on the couch as Carlisle and Esme occupied an armchair and Rosalie and Emmett were sitting on the sofa.

"The President just declared the end of World War II," Carlisle said gravely. "They're saying delegates from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and China have all agreed to the terms."

"It was a long, bloody mess," Rosalie stated. "Completely unnecessary. How many of their own did they kill?"

"Hundreds of thousands," Carlisle said certainly. "The killing of innocent people is nothing to celebrate, but at least it's over for now. I suppose it's only a matter of time before they find something else to fight over."

All their thoughts were centered around this news, and I could imagine what this meant for the rest of the world. But suddenly, all of my problems no longer mattered. Suddenly, other things became much more important. Suddenly, I felt insignificant.

I never moved from the couch upon which I had settled after returning from my hunting. I laid there all night listening to the radio, and it wasn't difficult to imagine what all those people who'd died had gone through. I wondered if the people who were still alive through all the chaos wished they were dead. I wondered if they were still suffering and wanted their suffering to end. I couldn't remember anymore if I'd wished for my suffering to end, or if Carlisle had simply chosen to end it for me. How many of those people would have to live for only a few minutes or hours or days or weeks or months or years with their suffering? It was almost too much to bear. The ones who had died were the lucky ones.

The sun rose promptly at 5:25 a.m., and by then, I was in my room watching the cloudy sky turn from nearly black to a dull grey. It had been cloudy the day before as well — perfect weather for those of us whose skin reacted rather brilliantly to sunlight. Carlisle was thinking it would be better later in the next week, and then we would all be able to hunt safely. Of course now that I'd already hunted, I didn't know if I would go again.

Esme found me when it was time for us to go back to school, and I followed her downstairs quietly, meeting Rosalie and Emmett at the front door. She would be taking us to school until we all got settled in, and then Emmett would be driving us since he would be "old enough" to do so. I actually preferred running, but we had to keep up appearances.

For another two weeks, Rosalie, Emmett and I were the talk of the school. I took Esme and Carlisle's advice. I tried not just to blend in, but to participate in as diminished a capacity I could under the circumstances so I wouldn't be the outcast the way I feared I would be. Though I remained with Emmett most of the time, there were a couple of teachers who were willing to give me work that was well above their education level to work on after school and on the weekends. Even Mr. Jennings was willing to help me. He was an interesting teacher to say the least. And I even helped Abigail with her math every afternoon, since she was a nice person to listen to when another student got it in their minds to approach me the way Jennifer had.

And then two weeks after we started school, another family moved into the town. This family was more normal than ours was, though their make-up was exactly the same. Two adults, two boys and a girl. They were, however, a real family. More refined and wealthy than just about any other family in town. Just about. I could tell the moment the three children arrived at school in a brand new car.

Aside from Carlisle's relatively new model, this was the newest car I'd seen in town since moving here. And the three people who exited the car couldn't have stood out more than we did, even though we probably stood out a little more with our skin and eyes no one had seemed to pick up on as being strange. Most people avoided us on instinct. Call it a survival mechanism.

All three of the new students were dressed as well as we were, appearing to be as wealthy as we were with nicer things than most of the people in this small town. I had to assume the eldest was the one driving based on his thoughts as he rose from the driver's seat and stepped back to rear passenger door to allow the girl out of the car. Her hair was blond and wavy like Rosalie's, past her shoulders even as the front was pinned back from her face.

_Hopefully, this school will be able to live up to the one in the city,_ the driver thought as he and the girl made eye contact. _I'm not repeating my senior year again._

The second boy met them at the end of the car, his hair lighter than the other boy but darker than the girl's. I could see from where I was that they all had different shades of blue eyes. I wondered what the darker-haired boy meant by repeating his senior year _again._ Had he been through his senior year once before already?

Within seconds of these new students exiting their car, the girl looked in my direction, and I'd never seen a girl look at me the way she was looking at me. Her face was sad but friendly. She didn't look any older than 15, the age I was supposed to be portraying, but her thoughts weren't what I would expect from a 15-year-old girl, especially with as young as she was. Most girls her age were only worried about the next several minutes of their own lives. They worried about boys noticing them, and they thought the most important thing in the world was what people thought of them. But not her.

She was different, even though I wasn't very certain at first what was so different about her. It felt almost like she could see me for what I really was, and I knew I would have to work hard to avoid her even though I didn't fully understand why I didn't want to avoid her. She was only one human in a sea of many. What made her so special?

"New students," Rosalie said, coming up to my side as we all observed the trio of younger children. "Perhaps this will mean people _won't_ be talking about us for the remainder of the year. Although, I will admit, for a short while there, it was rather flattering. It takes so little to excite them these days."

"She's cute," Emmett remarked, eliciting an elbow in the ribs from Rosalie. He grinned. "Well, she is." He looked at them and then me. "Where are they from?" he asked.

I looked again, and the girl was now being walked inside by the younger boy as he held his arm around her.

"_You don't have to be so independent,"_ he whispered to her softly. _"We are your big brothers. We just want to look after you."_

"_I know,"_ she agreed, the tenor of her voice slightly annoyed as she walked. _"But he doesn't have to be so bossy."_

"_No,"_ her brother replied, glancing in the older boy's direction. _"He doesn't."_

I glanced at Emmett, having seen enough to know what he asked. "Seattle," I told him softly, feeling her eyes on me again. "But they've been in town about as long as we have."

"Why are they just getting to school today?" Rosalie asked.

I followed her and Emmett inside slowly, or as slowly as humanly possible, but I didn't have an answer for her. I knew Carlisle had delayed our enrollment in school for many reasons, but none of those reasons seemed to apply to this new group — for obvious reasons.

"I'm not sure yet," I told Rosalie.

We separated at the main entrance as we'd been doing the last two weeks, and while they went to their _advanced_ courses meant for students in their grades, I was resigned to what the school liked to label Advanced Mathematics. However, it was even more below my capabilities than most the other courses available. Though I enjoyed school from time to time, the way some teachers acted as though they simply had to be smarter than their students was sometimes insulting. Despite my longer experience in life, I had to continually remind myself that to these people I was only a child.

The classroom was filling up when I arrived, and I made it to my seat in record time, listening to the others talk about what they'd done over the weekend. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie and Emmett, they'd all talked about stock and trade tips, so I couldn't talk about that. So I chose not to say anything at all. Not even when I heard the teacher speak.

"Ms. Jones," he said. "I remember that name. Are you related to Walter Jones?"

"He's my father," was the soft reply, and her face immediately flashed before my eyes, and for the smallest fraction of second, I looked up to see her with the teacher Mr. Clarence.

He grinned, and I saw a hint of recognition in his eyes. "Of course." He reached into his desk, glancing around the room and extracting a text book for her. "There's a seat open next to Mr. Masen."

She looked out into the room, her expression unreadable, but she said nothing, taking her book and moving away from the teacher to the seat next to mine which happened to be between me and Abigail. I tried not to stare, looking away as she sat down and smelling her scent on the air as it eased passed me. It wasn't an unusual scent, and she wasn't an unusual girl, but for a split second, it was an uncomfortable feeling that spread through my chest, and I unconsciously groaned. I had to work to shut out the tiny prickles of memories easing around the inside of her head, and I pinched my fingers to my nose, wondering exactly why the teacher had sat her next to me.

_I hope he's okay, _she thought gently. _He doesn't look very well._

But of course he would sit her next to me. It was the only seat left. Call it a coincidence. How was I supposed to avoid her now?

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_**Thanks again for reading.**_

_**And for history's reference, World War II ended on September 2, 1945 - at least that was the day when several countries agreed to the terms to end the war.**_

**_And I hope this will be a little easier to read._**


	2. A New Home 2

**This is the second half of the first part. This is Keira's part, obviously. Everybody, please tell me what you think of her. I really appreciate all the opinions I get. Thanks!**

**Keep Reading!  
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_**A New Home**_

_**September, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

Though I was only 15, moving from my house and my friends and my school made me feel like my life was over. And I wasn't the only one who felt that way. My oldest brother Kyle wasn't liking small town life either, since it meant he had to start over at everything. He was considered gifted at his school in Seattle, and therefore he'd been able to advance to being a senior by the time he was sixteen. Now that he was almost eighteen, learning that they didn't have any program like that in our new school was not sitting well with him. I wasn't happy about it either. I didn't like listening to him complain. My other brother, Fisher, who was almost a year younger than Kyle, on the other hand, didn't have an opinion one way or another. Seattle had only reminded him of our Grandmother, and now that she'd been gone six months, he'd been ready for a change.

Six months ago, my life had actually made sense. I'd had plenty of friends and a few good ones I could count on to be there for me. My grades had been top-notch, and all my teachers had expected me to be the best in their classes. I couldn't deny that I was actually one of the better students in school, and I liked the fact that it garnered attention and respect. Being smart was the most desired thing anyone there wanted, and I'd had it. I actually liked school. But then, my grandmother, my father's mother had passed away, leaving him her entire estate and instantly making us one of the wealthiest families in Seattle, on top of his own sizeable fortune from a successful law practice. I still couldn't understand why my father had moved out here in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing here, and both my parents were behaving like this was the best thing to ever happen to our family. I didn't think I would ever understand.

Our house was only a few blocks from the school, and it was apparently one of the largest in town although we weren't the wealthiest family in the school. That honor was currently being held by a family of the name Masen. I didn't know anything about them, and neither did my father, even though the principal told him they were also new in school, having moved into a house outside town a few months earlier. They'd been new, and now we were the new kids in school. I wasn't thrilled about it. Kyle wasn't thrilled about it. Fisher had no complaints. New school, new start. Even though he was smart and talented like me and Kyle, Seattle had too many bad memories, especially since he'd been closer to her than Kyle. I'd been closer to her than Kyle, and I would miss her more than I'd realized at the time, but I still hadn't wanted to move away from my house and my school and my friends just because my father wanted to, because he thought it would be better for us to live in a small town for a while.

So when we arrived at school first thing Monday morning, I wasn't surprised to see probably fifteen or sixteen cars in the parking lot that looked like it had been laid less than six months earlier. Our car was clearly the best one in the lot, with the exception of one other car that was just as shiny and just as new. One of whom I guessed was the Masens was currently standing beside the car as a tall blond, beautiful girl rose from the passenger seat and a tall, burly, dark-haired boy held her door for her. This other boy standing beside the car was also tall but had auburn hair. I couldn't decide if they were supposed to be related, since none of them really looked like they could belong to the same family. I didn't know what their story was supposed to be, but they clearly behaved like siblings.

The girl was astonishingly beautiful, and her hair, though the same color as mine, was clearly softer and wavier. She looked to be _very _tall, much taller than me, and the dark-haired boy beside her, while he was very handsome, was even taller and thick, like a lumberjack. I'd never seen to people look so different from each other and still fit together the way they did. The auburn boy was lean with a slender face and a medium build, and he seemed to be on his own, even though when he joined them, they all smiled and laughed together.

And then he lifted his eyes and looked at me. They color of his eyes startled me, as they were so dark that I could barely see any color. His eyes also had dark circles underneath them, like he hadn't slept in weeks. They all had dark eyes and dark circles under their eyes, which stood out in contrast to their snow-white pale skin. I'd never seen anyone with skin that white, and it shocked me. He was beautiful, surprisingly, but there was something deep beneath his beauty that said he was very different from everyone else around him. They were all different from everyone else around them. I wondered if anyone could see this, and I wanted to know where they'd come from. I was so curious about him, even though I'd never met him or spoken to him, and I suddenly had to know something about him no one else did.

"Keira, come on," Kyle commanded, I took my eyes from the boy to look at my obnoxious older brother.

"You're not my boss, Kyle," I told him. "Just because you drove me here, it doesn't mean you can tell me what to do."

"Keira," Fisher said softly, eliciting a much different reaction from me as he reached for me to guide me along toward the main building. "Come on."

I allowed him to put his arm around me. I then looked over my shoulder to see the boy with his two companions moving in the same direction as us.

"You don't have to be so independent," Fisher told me, his voice much softer than Kyle's. "We are your big brothers. We just want to look after you."

I exhaled loudly. "I know. But he doesn't have to be so bossy."

"No," Fisher said, glancing at Kyle. "He doesn't."

With it being September, while I hadn't expected it to be sunny or warm, I'd been discovering the last few months since moving into this town that it was almost always cloudy and almost always raining. Seattle hadn't been too dissimilar, but at least there it had been somewhat busy so you couldn't notice that it was cloudy a lot. Most of the other female students were wearing long skirts and long sleeved shirts, and the male students were wearing tweed pants and jackets. Being from the city made us sort of stand out as neither Kyle nor Fisher were wearing the typical things of the school, and neither was I. But these were the only clothes I owned, so I never said anything to anyone about it.

The front office was warm, and not just in temperature. The walls and the desks and the chairs were all a warm brown color that made it feel almost like normal. The secretary behind the main desk, whose name appeared to be Margaret, spotted us immediately, her bright brown eyes lit up like a Christmas tree as she smiled widely.

"Oh! You must be the Jones children," she said rather over-enthusiastically. I immediately blushed, but Kyle took a more direct approach.

"First of all," he said, his voice laced with disgust. "We're not children. Or rather, I'm not. Second, you don't know us, and it's probably better that you don't behave that way. And I already know where to do, so I'll let you deal with the two of them."

He looked at me and Fisher, grinning sarcastically. "Later."

As soon as Kyle left, Fisher sighed softly, turning his own blue-green eyes to the secretary as she stared wide-eyed at us both. "Ma'am, I apologize for his behavior. He's still . . . unhappy about our move. I'm Fisher," he greeted, extending his hand to take hers.

She blushed beet red, allowing him to take her hand.

"This is my sister, Keira," he said glancing at me. "We're here to get our schedules, please."

Margaret remained flustered for several seconds as she scooted her chair back to a file cabinet and extracted two slips of paper and then handed them to us. "We _have_ been expecting you," she said. "What with your father growing up here. Just give these to each of your teachers and your last period teacher will return it at the end of the day."

Fisher took the slip of paper she handed us with his name on it, and he gave me mine. I examined the little slip of paper dutifully, noticing all the essentials listed as well as a break at noon for lunch. Fisher did the same thing for a few seconds before he looked at Margaret.

"Thank you," he smiled.

He guided me out of the office slowly, walking me to my first class and turning me to face him before he released me. "Are you going to be okay?" he asked me.

"I'll be fine," I promised him, bowing my head as we stood at the mouth of my Advanced Mathematics class.

"All right. See you at lunch."

He kissed my forehead as he usually did before leaving me, and as he walked away, I hoped I would be fine. Moving here seemed like the biggest mistake of my life.

I stepped into the room slowly, seeing other students still settling in their seats as the teacher wrote out a lesson the chalk board. I stepped over to his desk, and he looked at me before stepping over to take my slip.

"Ms. Jones," he said. "I remember that name. Are you related to Walter Jones?" he asked me.

"He's my father," I replied softly.

The teacher grinned. "Of course." He reached into his desk, extracting a thick textbook and handing it to me. "There's a seat open next to Mr. Masen."

My eyes immediately turned to the class, spotting the auburn-haired boy as he sat at the back of the class. He wasn't looking up. He wasn't moving. I said nothing as I took my book and made my way to the desk next to his. He only glanced at me, saying nothing as the class filled up and the door closed.

"All right, that's enough talk," the teacher whose name I hadn't caught called over the class. "Everyone take out their textbooks and turn to page 27."

The boy next to me inhaled slowly, groaning as he leaned forward in his chair and then pressing his fingers to the bridge of his nose like his head was hurting. He groaned softly, opening his book and turning it to the lesson the teacher had stated. I almost said something, maybe thinking he wasn't feeling well. It was obvious something was making him uncomfortable. But I decided against it, opening my book and lifting my eyes to the teacher as he began his lesson.

_I hope he's okay,_ I thought to myself. _He doesn't look very well._

Had that been the only time I saw that boy all morning, it would've been okay, but I wasn't so lucky as he showed up in every one of the classes I'd been assigned. And what was even worse was how all the teachers found it completely necessary to sit me next to him. And he never said a word to me, not even a polite "hello." I didn't think it was normal for anyone to behave that way, but he looked almost bored, almost uninterested most of the morning, so I decided to ignore him.

It wasn't easy.

By lunch, I was ready to be free of the monotony of school, and I followed the flow of students from my grade to the cafeteria. I noticed juniors and seniors also moving in that general direction, and I realized I would be able to see Fisher while I was here. A girl from my Advanced Mathematics class, whose name I remembered was Abigail, walked to lunch with me, giving me a bit of a tour of the campus which was less than half the size of the school I'd attended in Seattle. Abigail didn't really ask me a lot of prying questions about where I'd lived before, and I appreciated that. She pulled me to a table where a few other students were sitting, and the blond girl already sitting there literally flocked to my side.

"Oh, you must be Keira," she exclaimed. "I'm Jennifer. If there's every anything you need, all you have to do is ask. Everyone's talking about you! This must be so different from living in Seattle. I can't imagine how strange it is for you to be here in such a little town. Oh, I love your dress!"

I blushed deep red then, trying to smile and trying not to be rude, but no one had ever bombarded me with so many platitudes before. Jennifer's bright blue eyes lit up as she scoured my face and clothes, almost like she was passing judgement on me inside her head. "Thank you," I said softly.

"Did you have a boyfriend in Seattle?" Jennifer asked, even though it was none of her business whether I had or hadn't — and I hadn't, but again, that was none of her business.

"Jennifer, don't hound her with personal questions," the lone boy sitting at the table cajoled, winking his deep brown eyes at me and grinning as he slicked back a lock of his dark brown hair. "I'm Ethan," he said, leaning over the table and reaching for my hand. I reciprocated slowly. "Ethan Conway. You're Keira Jones. My dad's working with your dad at the police station."

I nodded at this piece of information. "Of course."

"So how are you liking the town?" he asked over his own lunch which consisted of a carton of milk and the remnants of a turkey sandwich. "Probably not what you're used to."

I inhaled then, looking over the variety of food in front of me and choosing the macaroni and cheese as a first choice. "No, it isn't what I'm used to," I stated softly. "But I'm getting used to it."

"We can go to the library later this week if you want," Abigail suggested with a shrug. "I still have a lot of work in Math to do."

I thought about what kind of library a town this small could have, and I remembered how often I'd gone to the library in Seattle to spend time with my friends or just to find a new book to read. I wondered if it was possible for the library here to have the same kinds of books they would have in Seattle, and I decided against it. The library here probably didn't have the kind of money a large city would have to stock its shelves with a wider variety of books.

"What class do you have next?" Ethan asked.

I pulled my schedule from my Science book and looked at quickly. "French," I realized, trying to remember what I'd learned the year before in my old school.

Ethan looked disappointed, nibbling on his sandwich. "That's too bad. I have to go to English. But maybe we'll have a class together before the end of the day."

I nodded, glancing around for Fisher and instead spotting the same boy from all my morning classes now sitting at a table with the tall, beautiful girl and the dark-haired, lumberjack boy I'd seen him with that morning. I wondered what his next class was, and I silently hoped it wasn't the class I had.

I had no such luck.

Fisher found me before the end of lunch, walking me out of the cafeteria and quizzing me teasingly about my morning.

"You seem to have made a few friends over the last few hours," he grinned. "Maybe you don't need my help after all."

I blushed for what felt like the hundredth time that day, wishing I could be at home in my room with my door shut where no one could bother me. "At least I'm trying," I told him. "I don't think Kyle's made any effort to get along with anyone at all today."

Fisher squeezed me in his arm. "Yes, you are trying," he nodded. "And I'm proud of you for that. I know this hasn't been easy on you especially, and I wish things could be different. I really do."

"Can we make a run for it before Kyle gets out of his last class this afternoon?" I begged, reaching for his jacket and tugging on it like I did when I was a little girl.

He smiled, squeezing me again. "I know you want to," he said softly. "And I want you to be some place that's comfortable for you. But it'll be okay here. I promise. You just wait. You'll meet some more of your classmates here, and then it won't seem so much more different than home as soon as you make a few more friends."

I chose not to respond, thinking of the next three hours I had to get through before I was allowed to leave and wondering if anyone would miss me if I didn't make it there. Of course, Fisher made sure I made it to French class, and upon stepping inside and discovering the same boy there who'd been in all my morning classes, I realized I wasn't going to be able to concentrate the whole time I was there.

And it seemed the hands of fate liked it that way as I arrived in English class at the end of the day to discover him yet again sitting at the back of the class. I unconsciously braced myself for the next hour, stepping to the teacher's desk and handing my slip of paper to him.

"Ah, Ms. Jones," the teacher said. "I've been hearing about you. My name's John Jennings. I'll be your English teacher for the next three years."

I was unable to say anything back, and when I stuttered, he grinned. "It's okay," he chuckled. "I don't bite."

I blushed deeply, taking my textbook from him and clutching it to my chest.

"It looks like we've got a seat next to Mr. Masen," he gestured. "I'm sure he'll help you if you have a question. Won't you, Mr. Masen?"

I turned my eyes toward him, seeing that he hadn't even looked up, but he spoke nonetheless.

"Yes, Mr. Jennings."

His voice was smooth, almost like an instrument, but there was a hint of sarcasm to it that annoyed me. What was so special about him that he didn't even have to look up when the teachers spoke to him?

"Please take your seat, Ms. Jones," Mr. Jennings requested.

I moved to my seat quickly, sitting down and immediately facing forward. I paid no attention to the boy to my left. He wasn't worth my time.

Fisher was waiting for me as soon as my English class ended, and I was glad to leave the whole thing behind me. Though I usually enjoyed English and Mr. Jennings had been relatively enjoyable as a teacher, sitting next to that boy had caused me to be distracted through the entire class. With the number of times he groaned or furrowed his thick eyebrows, I honestly thought there was something wrong with him. It couldn't be something I'd done. He didn't know me.

"Well, how was your first day?" Fisher asked, taking me under his arm and walking me away from the doorway.

"Typical of a first day," I replied, even though it had actually been a while since I'd had a first day at school where no one knew me. "I suppose."

"Meet any cute boys?" he asked, and I looked at him to see a teasing smile across his face.

"Fisher," I began, "you're my big brother, and I love you, but I'm not talking about boys with you. It would just be too awkward," I told him as we both exited the school and made our way to the car where Kyle was already waiting impatiently.

Fisher chuckled. "Well, I'm just asking. New school, new environment. I thought you might have met someone who caught your attention."

I instantly thought of that auburn-haired boy, glancing behind me to see him joining the girl and other boy he arrived with that morning and then also glancing over his shoulder in my direction. I made no attempts to hide the face that I was staring at him. And he stared back for almost five seconds before sliding smoothly into the back seat of the car. The taller dark-haired boy slid into the driver's seat while the tall, blond girl eased into the front passenger seat without a word to either of them.

Fisher also glanced back, seeing what I was seeing as he spoke. "I thought no one caught your attention," he teased, smiling as he opened my door for me.

"Did I say he'd caught my attention?" I argued. "I don't even know his first name."

I got into the car, and Fisher stepped around to the passenger side to get in before Kyle backed out of our parking spot to leave the lot.

"Well, his sister's name is Rosalie, and she said his name is Edward," Fisher continued once we were on our way back to the house. "So maybe you can talk to him tomorrow."

I said nothing as I sat in the back seat, remembering how strange the boy had behaved and having no desire to talk to him at all. I doubted that would change overnight.

My mother, Annabeth, was waiting for all three of us when we arrived at the house, taking her China out of the boxes and placing them in the Buffet already there. She was still wearing the old dress she'd been wearing when we'd left before school. Her dark blond hair was, amazingly enough, still pinned back perfectly, and she was smiling like unpacking was the most fun she'd ever had. When we came into the house, she greeted all of us happily.

"Welcome home, kids," she called, her voice more chipper than it had been eight hours earlier. "How was school?"

Kyle answered her first, his voice dripping with disdain. "If I have to go back, I just might vomit."

The smile on her face disappeared instantly, and she looked at him disapprovingly. "Kyle, that's not nice," she chastised. "There's nothing wrong with that school, and you'd do well to remember that."

He scoffed loudly. "I don't care. I have more important things to worry about. Excuse me."

He left without another word, and my mother inhaled deeply, smoothing the front of her dress and turning her attention to me and Fisher.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" she begged.

"It was fine," Fisher assured her. "I'm sure Kyle's just upset about moving, and whether he likes it or not, he'll learn to deal with school. It is just one more year for him."

My mother sighed with relief, laying her blue-grey eyes on me. "Honey, it was okay, wasn't it?" she pleaded. "I mean, I know our move was sudden and everything, but we really do want you three to be happy here. It'll be better than the city. You'll see, I promise."

"It was okay, Mom," I said, assuring her as Fisher had also done. "Really. The teachers were nice, and it's a nice school. It's just new. We'll all adjust."

"Good. That's really good. But if there's ever anything you want to talk to me about, you know you can tell me, right?"

I smiled as best as I could. "I know. I'm going up to my room, okay?"

She smiled back. "Okay."

I followed Fisher out of the room, up the stairs where our rooms were currently still filled with boxes to be unpacked.

I had yet to remove all of my belongings from the boxes I'd packed them into, but in a few months, I'd found all the essentials. My journals, for one. My Grandmother had bought me my first one, and I'd been writing in them every day since I'd been 10 years old. Five years was a long time to build a collection, and I had quite a few now. In the last six months, I'd been scouring them to find all the passages I'd written about my grandmother and my home. There were quite a few.

After my journals, my mother had helped me find all the essential clothes, opulent and refined as they were. They made me stand out in this small town, but I didn't really care. My family was considered wealthy, and I wore good clothes. I wasn't really worried about what any small town boy would say about my clothes. And with that, I found myself thinking of that boy. Edward. It was sort of an old-fashioned name. Not at all like mine, which had come from my mother's side of the family and had belonged to her great-great grandmother from Ireland.

As I began removing more of my clothes from their boxes, I remembered what that boy had been wearing. He'd looked just as out of place as I had. I wondered if his family was as wealthy as mine was, and I wondered where he'd come from. There was something strange about him, and it wasn't just because of his clothes or his eyes or his manners. I'd always been able to sort of read people just by looking at them, and my gut told me there was something different about him. My Grandmother had always told me to follow my instincts, and even though this boy refused to acknowledge me, I wouldn't let him get away with that.

"Are you going to stand there and mull all afternoon?" I heard and turned to see Fisher there now dressed in his jogging pants and t-shirt.

I stepped away from the closet, folding my arms over my chest. "And exactly what is that supposed to mean?" I asked, half-grinning.

"Keira, you have a tendency to become obsessed, and I know that look on your face."

I scoffed lightly, even though he was right. "And exactly what would I have to be obsessed about?" I asked him.

He smiled, his blue-green eyes twinkling the way they always did whenever he knew something he wasn't supposed to know. "It's been two and a half months, and we just got back from our first day in a new school. I'm certain you've found something to wonder about. You always do. I just want to make sure your obsession is healthy."

I inhaled deeply. "Fisher, come on," I pleaded. "We _have_ been in town two and a half months. I know you're my big brother, and I know you want to look out for me, but please. I'm not a little girl anymore, and I haven't worn pigtails in about six or seven years. I'm okay. And trust me, if I think I'm becoming obsessed, you'll be the first to know. All right?"

He stepped closer to me, easing his arms around me for the first time in what felt like months. Since our Grandmother had passed away, we'd all been kind of distant, each choosing our own ways of coping with the situation and the consequences. My father had switched jobs, taking a position in the local police station here in town as a legal advisor. My mother had turned herself into the quintessential homemaker, pulling together the kinds of things you'd think she spent her entire life creating. Kyle was, well, Kyle. He brooded and griped a lot, but I knew it was all show. I knew he was in pain, and I knew he just didn't know how to show it. Fisher and I seemed to be the only ones in our family capable of handling her passing with any degree of normalcy. I wondered when we would be a real family again.

"I'll leave you to your room," Fisher said, leaning back and kissing my forehead. "Don't forget about dinner, okay?"

I smiled as normally as I could. "I won't," I promised.

He left the room silently, moving back to his room to do what I was doing, and I moved back to my closet to finish unpacking my clothes.

I decided Fisher was right. Maybe I was becoming obsessed. I was going to figure out what was so different about that boy. And I didn't really care what I had to do to figure it out. I suppose he really had caught my attention after all.

My father, Walter, arrived home just after five-thirty, toting a new briefcase filled with new papers and files from his new job, and by then, I was in the kitchen helping my mother with dinner. Fisher was in the living room fiddling with the new radio, and Kyle was probably still brooding in his room. The house was being filled with the news for the night as my father made his way into the kitchen where my mother and I were chopping vegetables, and he immediately announced himself.

"Well, I never thought I'd spend the day doing the kind of paperwork required to process a speeding ticket off Hwy 101 outside town," he quipped, stepping behind my mother and kissing her cheek and then looking at me. "How are my girls today?" he smiled. "First day at a new school. How was it, sweetheart?"

I blushed, and he moved to my side to kiss my forehead. "It was okay, Daddy. Just a first day in a new school."

"Meet any nice boys?" he inquired, lifting his chin and scrutinizing me teasingly with his happy green eyes.

I blushed deeper even as he squeezed me. "Daddy," I pleaded.

"Well, we'll have to work a little harder on that. What's for dinner?" he asked, leaning toward my mother and kissing her gently on her lips.

She kissed him back. "Pot roast," she whispered.

He squeezed me again, releasing me and moving the cupboard. "I'll set the table," he announced. "Where are your brothers?"

"I don't know about Kyle," I said, resuming my chopping. "But Fisher is messing with the radio in the living room. I think he's hoping to hear something about the war."

The teasing attitude of my father dissipated slightly as he retrieved plates and silverware from the cabinet. "Well, I'm just glad the whole mess is over with," he said with finality, moving from the kitchen to the dining room with his task on hand and leaving no room for discussion.

Dinner was ready by seven, and my father pulled Fisher from the radio without turning it off to make him sit at the dinner table as he'd been doing since moving all of us to this house a few months earlier. He was continually reminding us that he wanted us all home in time for dinner no matter what exciting thing was going on in town, and though I knew I would have no problem with that stipulation, Fisher and Kyle were completely different stories. They both had their own ideas of what a curfew meant, and Kyle had always been one to defy the rules. So when he didn't come down for dinner when it was ready, my father marched up the stairs and summoned him directly.

Kyle came downstairs grumbling about how he wasn't even hungry, but our father was always and had always been adamant about such things, and it was inappropriate for Kyle to not sit at dinner with everyone else. So even though he was pulled to the table with an annoyed look on his face, he still took his place beside our mother while I sat next to Fisher on the opposite side of the table. While our father wasn't very religious, he still made all of us pause for a moment and remember how grateful we all were for our health before he let us sit down to start eating.

"I hope we all had good days at our respective places of interest," he said from the head of the table while we all passed around various dishes of food. "This looks absolutely delicious, Annabeth."

My mother blushed, taking the bowl of potatoes and then passing the rolls to Kyle which he took without a word. "Well, the market here has the most interesting foods to choose from," she said with an astonished tone. "But I decided a more traditional meal would be best since we're all still settling in. I found fish and vegetables for later in the week if we're all up to it."

"That sounds wonderful," my father agreed. "So, kids, how was school?" he asked, looking at Kyle and Fisher pointedly since he'd already gauged my experience earlier.

"It's great," Fisher said with a smile. "It's different, but it isn't as bad as some of us believe," he hedged, glancing up at Kyle.

Our older brother smiled grudgingly. "Allow me to apologize then if I made the experience horrible for you," he prickled, giving Fisher an even wider smile.

"All right, now, there's no need for that," my father said. "We're all adjusting to small town life, and it's only normal for there to be a grace period of resentment, no matter how misplaced it might be. I think this will be a good thing for all of us in the long run."

"Well, it might end up being a good thing for Keira in the long run," Fisher teased nudging my arm playfully. "Especially since I think she met a boy at school."

My face turned red as I attempted to keep my head down and my eyes on my plate, but my mother and father's curiosity was immediately piqued.

"Sweetie, you said you didn't meet anyone nice at school," my mother pressed.

"It's not like that," I said, lifting my head to look at her. "I did meet a lot of nice people at school. Fisher is just exaggerating. Really."

"Well, who is this boy?" my father asked.

I inhaled deeply, pressing my lips together, and when I didn't speak, Fisher took it upon himself to do it for me.

"Edward Masen," he said, and all the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end at the sound of his name. "He's a new student in school just like we are," Fisher continued. "He and his siblings started school a couple of weeks ago. I have World Economics with his older sister Rosalie. He has an older brother, Emmett, I believe."

It was embarrassing to have Fisher list off all the details he'd obviously taken the time to learn while I sat there dumbfounded at the idea that he'd learned all of this for my benefit. All I could think about was how that boy hadn't even paid attention to me the entire day despite sitting next to me in every class. Was it my fault he didn't seem interested in anything that school had to offer him, me included?

"Masen," my father repeated. "There's a family that lives outside town with that name. They bought the old Madden place a few months back. The boys at the station were talking about them a few days ago."

"And?" my mother asked, obviously interested in the gossip she was about to hear.

"Well, they moved here from Rochester a few months back," he began. "The father works in the hospital over in Aberdeen, and his wife and her brother moved with him. The other two kids were apparently adopted when they were younger, but Dr. Masen barely looks like he's thirty years old. It's . . . odd to say the least, but a family's business is their own, I suppose. I wonder how they're fixing up that old house. It must be fifty years old."

"I think we're making Keira uncomfortable," Kyle interrupted, and I looked at him to see a disinterested look on his face. "Maybe we could talk about something else."

My mother and father looked at me, and I could only guess what my face looked like, but it was apparently enough for them to switch gears. Fisher took the initiative again, speaking up from my side.

"They're still talking about the delegates who signed the declaration to end the war," he said matter-of-factly, reminding everyone that we'd sat through the entire broadcast two weeks earlier to listen to every minute detail — well, almost all of us. Our father had opted to remain in his study throughout the broadcast and then instructed me to go to bed before ten o'clock. "And they're still working to secure the Pacific, but — "

"I don't think it's really necessary to discuss those kinds of things at the dinner table," my father interrupted, and we all looked at him.

"Well, when will we talk about it?" Fisher asked calmly, despite knowing it wasn't a subject our father liked discussing. "After dinner when you're in your study going over papers for a traffic violation because the police station is so small there isn't anything else for you to do."

"Fisher," my mother scolded.

"No, that's okay," my father said. He looked at Fisher. "The police station here is small, but this is a small town. And it's safer than the big city we used to live in. There's less crime, which means there are less criminals. It means my children are safer, so if you want to attack me because I don't want to talk about a bloody war that killed hundreds of thousands people, then go ahead. But I'm still your father, and what I say goes around here. You're safe here, and that's much more preferable than sending you off to die in a war where innocent people caught in the crossfire didn't have a choice."

I looked at Fisher, seeing his brow furrowed as he held our father's eyes with his own. He didn't say anything else, pushing his chair back and leaving the dining room before I could stop him. My mother bowed her head, embarrassed by her son's behavior, and my father sighed heavily before he took his fork and simply began eating again. Kyle was the first to speak after a few seconds passed.

"Keira, can you pass me the green beans?"

I looked at him incredulously, but he didn't budged, lifting his eyebrows and nodding to our parents. I sat up then, passing the bowl to him and then taking a roll to eat my dinner even though I was no longer hungry.

After dinner, while my father announced that he would help my mother with the dinner, I made my way upstairs with Kyle. He went to his room and closed the door, and instead of going to my room, I stopped at Fisher's door and knocked.

"It's open."

I turned the handle softly, opening the door and stepping inside to see my brother sitting at his desk with a few of his school books set out in front of him. He didn't look up from his desk, but I knew he wasn't doing anything but trying to look like it didn't bother him that he and our father had disagreed about something — again.

"You could call a cease-fire," I said, and he glanced over his shoulder at me. "I don't think he would object."

"Of course not," he said, turning back to his books. "That would be me telling him he's right. And it's part of my job to disagree with him."

"He's not wrong," I said, prompting him to stop and put his pen down before he turned to face me.

"Keira," he began, pausing for half a minute and then continuing. "You don't know what it's like. I'm turning 17 in two months. And I'm a junior in high school. Most boys my age are getting ready to graduate, and because he decided this without talking to us, I have to start all over."

"Well, then I'm sorry. I thought I was talking to Fisher. You know, my brother who had no complaints before we started school this morning."

I turned to leave, and he spoke again.

"Don't leave," he apologized. "I'm — I'm sorry." He rose from his chair, facing me the way he had after getting back from school. "I didn't mean it like that. I know why he did this. And I understand. But what does he expect me to do now?"

"Now what?" I asked. "Now that you can't go off after school and enlist the way you make it sound because the war's over? Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't," he insisted, causing me to sigh heavily. "Okay, maybe I do," he amended. "But the point is that it was my choice. And now that choice is gone. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

"Go to school," I told him. "Maybe being there will help you figure it out."

He smiled then, reaching for my hands and holding them in his as he spoke. "You always knew what you wanted to do with your life," he chuckled. "I always admired that about you."

He pulled me closer, and I wrapped my arms around him as tight as I could. "You'll know what you want to do with your life one day," I whispered to him. "I promise."

It was almost ten when I finally got bed after my bath, and I finished the few assignments the teachers at school had given me before settling into my bed for the night. I'd only been sleeping in this room a little while, and I was still getting used to it. Weekdays were worse than the weekends, especially when my mother had insisted on getting me up when it would normally be a school day so I wouldn't fall out of the habit. It wasn't anything like my room at our previous house.

The ceiling was eggshell white, and the walls were pale yellow. The wood floors were a bright honey color, and it matched the furniture which included a small desk, an armoire and the bed which didn't have a canopy but was surrounded by four posts on all sides. All the furniture had been in the house when we'd moved in, and when my mother had seen this room, she'd automatically designated it to me. I wasn't uncomfortable here anymore, but it still wasn't home. I was sure nothing would ever be like home again.

* * *

**I'm really going to try to repost all of these together to keep up the momentum, and I'm almost finished with the next chapter. So please, I want to hear from you. If you hate it, tell me. If you love it, tell me. If it needs improvement, _tell me!_**

**Thanks for now._  
_**


	3. Popular 1

***Again, this is a repost. Sorry if there's any confusion.***

**A quick word about a few things. Edward and his family will look slightly different in this story than they would in most, and the difference should become obvious once you read further in. And the format will obviously be from Keira and Edward' s perspectives, and it will switch off in each chapter. We've got a long road ahead of us, and I hope you're in for the long haul here.**

**I want to thank everyone who's already read, and I hope anyone else who stumbles in likes what they see. And don't forget to tell me what you think - good or bad.**

**Read on!**

* * *

_**Popular**_

_**September, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

Two weeks after starting at my new school, two things had become obvious. The first thing was that it was rare for one family, let alone two, to move to a small community like the one I was now living in, and the second thing was that not many of the students I was now going to school with had ever been outside the small community in their entire lives. My father had apparently been an exception, and an unusual one at that.

For two weeks, I settled into my classes and got to know my teachers — Mr. Jennings, John as he liked to be called, was currently my favorite and not just because he was the youngest and easiest to relate to. My liking him also had nothing to do with the fact that English was my favorite subject. I was moderately capable in my other classes, and the teachers were generally helpful, but Mr. Jennings seemed to take a special interest in me — and Edward Masen.

I didn't know if it was because we were both new, and he wanted to get to know us since most of the other students had been in his class before. I didn't know if it was because I was from a bigger city and Edward was obviously not from nearby either. But it became clear that Edward was a terribly quiet person. He kept to himself most of the time, even though most of the teachers had appeared to sit us next to each other.

The few girls in my class whom had already introduced themselves to me were accepting of me since we also had classes together. Abigail was very helpful, and I was grateful for her help. The few boys whom I'd met also tried to make me feel at home. It was more than I'd expected. But Edward hardly muttered a word to anyone half the time, not just me. I was still determined to figure him out, but I didn't know how I was supposed to do that if he never really spoke to anyone. Only Abigail seemed to have really interacted with him since he'd started school, but it was only in one class, and the rest of the time, he kept to himself — which seemed to be the way he liked it. How could anyone like being that solitary?

He never purposefully avoided me. If we ended up standing next to each other in the court yard behind the cafeteria or reached for the same thing in the line to get lunch, he made no effort to move away from me. But he never apologized either. And he always sat with his sister Rosalie and his brother Emmett. In two weeks, I'd re-learned their names from the other students as they made no effort to hide the fact that they were new and liked the attention it garnered. Edward seemed to detest being the center of attention. I couldn't blame him there. It wasn't my favorite thing either.

"We're going out tonight, Keira," Abigail said from the seat next to me. I looked at her, seeing a pleading light in her bright brown eyes as she leaned in close to me. "You're coming right? With your brother? You both simply have to come. It's Friday night, and we're all going to the drive-in."

At the mention of my brother — and I knew she was referring to Fisher — I looked over my shoulder to look in the corner of the cafeteria where Edward and his siblings had settled. Within eyeshot I could see Fisher sitting at a table with a few students in his grade, one of which happened to be one of the boys I'd met my first day, Ethan Conway. He was one of the most popular boys in his class, and he was handsome in a small town kind of way. I suppose living in Seattle most of my life had spoiled me on boys who were a little more cultured than any of the boys here.

"I'll have to talk to my mother and Fisher," I told her sympathetically, even though I knew my mother would have no problem with me going out with friends from school. Honestly, she would be positively buoyant. Fisher, on the other hand, was another story altogether. "But I'll try."

Abigail smiled, turning to her lunch, and I glanced behind me again. This time, I noticed for the first time that Edward was staring at me. And his eyes were not dark the way they'd been two weeks earlier, when I'd gotten a good look at them. To my amazed eyes, they looked green, like shimmering emeralds were embedded in his irises. I was astonished I was able to see his eyes, but I could. And I'd never seen anything like them in my life.

"Exactly what do you think you're staring at, Ms. Keira Jones?" Jennifer asked as she sat in front of me, the tone of her voice teasing if nothing else.

I turned back to look at her. "Nothing you need to worry about," I replied certainly, and her blue eyes lit up.

"You're staring at Edward, aren't you?" she teased. "Not that I think he's worth anyone's time, but since you are staring at him, I think it's just so cute! The new girl obsessing over the new boy! It's so romantic."

In the last two weeks, since meeting Abigail and Jennifer, I'd noticed their distinctive personalities emerge slowly. Abigail was quiet and shy, and she only ever spoke when I spoke to her. Jennifer had practically started to dress like me, almost overnight. I think I was supposed to be flattered that she wanted to imitate me. But despite being relatively well-known at my previous school, having her emulate me felt strangely odd. I didn't really feel very comfortable with it, and I knew I would never become accustomed to it. And I didn't know how to make her stop.

"Jennifer, he's barely said two words to me in two weeks," I told her, to which she giggled loudly. "That's hardly romantic."

"It's probably nothing personal," Abigail said to be softly. "He only really talks to me in study period, and it's not every day. Maybe he just likes his privacy."

I shrugged, nibbling on the sandwich on my plate. "I don't really care."

"You're lying," Jennifer accused, despite her wide smile. "You could at least tell us why you're looking at him from across the cafeteria."

Again, I glanced, and he was still looking at me, his expression too blank for me to read. "I don't know why I'm staring at him, Jennifer. He'd not like the other boys here. I'm not sure how I know. I just do."

"Well, why don't you go talk to him?" Abigail suggested. "You're both still new. Odds are you'll have something to talk about."

"And if you don't have anything to talk about," Jennifer added, "who says you have to talk?"

Jennifer was truly advanced for her age. In two weeks, she'd all but blurted out how much she envied me for having grown up around boys who were bound to know more about girls than the boys here. I knew what she hinting at, but I made no effort to acknowledge her.

"I'm sure I'll want to talk first, Jennifer," I told her.

"But he's gorgeous!" she whispered excitedly. "Why talk when you can — "

"Because I'm not like that, Jennifer," I stated with finality.

"Well, he's all any of the girls can talk about," Jennifer informed me, a slight hint of disgust laced through her voice. "Especially since his brother Emmett keeps jostling him to the front of their pack. It's almost like he wants Edward to have someone else to talk to. Why not just talk to him? He's obviously curious about you if he's staring at you too."

I instantly blushed. And I wasn't even sure why I was blushing. I knew Edward was attractive. He was tall and lean and seemed fairly athletic. A lot of girls who I heard talking about him called him "strong and silent." Whether he was or wasn't, I liked boys who seemed to have an interest in me that drifted passed the "staring" phase, and if that was all he was going to do, then I didn't see the point in even attempting to talk to him — not unless I had to.

Once Abigail was finished with her lunch, she and I left our table together, giving Jennifer the opportunity to harass a freshman who sat down behind her. I barely noticed Edward rise from his table and move in the same direction Abigail and I were headed, but the moment he was in front of me, doing what I was doing as I threw away the trash and leftover food on my plate, I couldn't help but notice that he threw away untouched food and an unopened carton of milk. How odd.

As usual, he said nothing, lifting his eyes to mine and staring for what felt like half a minute before he turned and left, and I was glued to the floor until Abigail nudged me forward. I said nothing to her as she directed me out into the cool air of late summer in Washington State. Or maybe I noticed the cool air because I was still blushing. For that, I was thankful. Cool air was good for my face and my nerves.

My class after lunch, French, was usually a rather enjoyable class, and it would have still been enjoyable for the last two weeks had I not been seated next to Edward. And after having been the talk of the school for the last two weeks, I wasn't interested in sitting next to him anymore. He behaved like he was bored every moment of class, and even when the teacher, Ms. Lockhart, asked for his answer to a question, he almost always answered her without even looking up from the journal he always carried with him. Something else I noticed since the very first day was how immaculate his pronunciation was and his accent was near perfect.

He never stumbled over any of the words or phrases she asked him to say, and when I listened to him from less than three feet away, it almost always never failed to send a million tendrils of electricity through my entire body. His voice was so perfect and sounded almost like warm honey when he spoke. I couldn't understand how anyone could sound like he sounded, and I was absolutely positive that I would never hear anyone else sound like him. I barely knew anything about him, and yet, there was so much I could tell just by the way he held himself and the way he spoke. And then there were the words he said when he actually spoke during the other classes we shared.

I'd always believed I was about as refined and cultivated as anyone could get, and I held myself to the lifestyle my parents had raised me within, but Edward was completely different. He was calm and concise in his words, reserved in his attitude despite the way he always seemed disinterested in what he was doing. He spoke like someone who'd been born about thirty years before everyone else in the room, and the more I listened to him, the more I was sure there was something else different about him no one else was seeing.

French class was filling up when I stepped inside, and I spotted him in his seat with his eyes trained on the journal under his quick penmanship. Having seen the way he wrote while helping Ms. Lockhart grade papers, it was obvious he'd been writing in his journals for much longer than seemed possible. He never lost confidence over what he did or said, unlike most, if not all the other students in class. He was much more sophisticated than any of the other boys in class, most of whom were jostling around the room like the teenagers they were. They all behaved as though they had all the time in the world. Edward seemed to know that wasn't always the case.

"_Installez-vous des enfants," _Ms. Lockhart called as I made it to my seat next to his and opened my book to our last lesson. "Today, we will be selecting a partner for the next phase of our lessons. Some of you still need a little . . . improvement," she said, looking in the direction of a boy in front of me who hadn't been doing very well at all. I was curious who would take a foreign language course without meaning to actually learn the language as opposed to being able to sit between two girls who were obviously impressed.

Next to me, I heard what I believed to be a laugh, and I glanced beside me to see a strange crease in the corner of Edward's cheek. Was he smiling?

"The ones of you who need the improvement will be partnered with a student who has improved since the first of term. _Mademoiselle_ Jones," she called, and I lifted my eyes to hers to see a small grin on her young-looking face.

I smiled back, uncertain why she was smiling at me like that. "_Oui, Mademoiselle_ Lockhart," I replied.

"You will be partnered with _Monsieur_ Masen," she informed me as the small grin on her face widened and caused her hazel eyes to brighten slightly.

I inhaled deeply, bowing my head and looking over the lesson in front of me. _Of course, _I thought.

Ms. Lockhart went on in partnering the other students, and I tried not to notice how everyone else was looking at me now that there was no way I could avoid talking to Edward, especially since I had actually been working to avoid him altogether. The sounds of the other students speaking in English and French began to fill the room, and I resigned myself to reading the lesson in my book since Edward hadn't made an effort to talk to me so far. And then he spoke.

"_Bon jour, mademoiselle,"_ he said softly, prompting me to turn my head slightly to look at him as he sat there with his torso turned toward me as he still wrote in his journal. Was that even possible?

I spoke automatically. _"Bon jour, monsieur,"_ I replied.

"_Vous avez déplacé ici de Seattle?"_

I didn't pretend to know exactly what he said, because I honestly only caught the last two words. I didn't mean to blush, but when I did, the soft expression on his face faded slightly even as I spoke. "I'm — I'm sorry," I said softly. "Could you repeat that a little more slowly?"

"You moved here from Seattle," he repeated, this time in English.

I glanced around at everyone else, sitting back in my chair. "I did," I confirmed. _"Et vous?"_ I asked, attempting to switch gears. The crease in his forehead deepened slightly.

"Rochester," he replied distantly.

"Did — Did I say it wrong?" I asked. "Your pronunciation is exquisite."

"No, you said it fine," he said curtly.

"And there's a reason why you're behaving like you would rather be somewhere else?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound hurt, but afraid it was the only emotion I could convey at being spoken to like I was waste of time.

He whispered so softly I barely heard him, but I caught a little of what he said, and it sounded a lot like, "Could you please not do that?"

"_Mademoiselle_ Jones," Ms. Lockhart called, causing me to look away from him. _"En français, s'il vous plaît."_

I bowed my head, looking at him as he continued to sit there like he didn't want to be there. I was determined to figure out what was so different about him.

By the end of class, though we'd exchanged a considerably longer conversation than I'd expected up to that point, the moment the bell rang and released us from class, he was out of his seat within seconds. He made it to the door and into the hallway before anyone else, and when I stepped into the corridor outside the classroom, Fisher was there waiting for me.

"Hey," he said with a wide smile and a twinkle in his blue-green eyes.

I looked around, wondering how Edward had gotten away so quickly. "Hi," I said absently.

"Keira, are you okay?" Fisher asked, and I looked at him.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

He laughed softly. "Really? Because you look lost. I've been walking you to your classes for two weeks, and you haven't looked like this the whole time. Did something happen in French class?"

I inhaled deeply, still looking around the corridor and then bowing my head as Fisher directed me toward the staircase to the first floor where the study hall was. I knew my day would only continue to get worse because as soon as I stepped inside the room and saw Edward sitting at the back of the room by himself. Fisher directed me to a table as he carried his own book bag, and we sat down together silently. I opened one of my notebooks, glancing over my shoulder at him and seeing him casually writing in his journal. I liked solitude every now and then, but the way he stayed away from people made me think something deeper was going on with him, and I wanted to know what it was.

He looked up then, and our eyes met the way they had in the cafeteria. The crease in his forehead was still there, and he was staring at me like he was trying to make me stop looking at him. But I didn't. Whatever he was thinking or not thinking, I wasn't usually deterred by the prospect of causing trouble. I'd never backed down from a challenge, and I was sure I wouldn't now. No one else really knew anything about him, not even Abigail, and for some reason, I wanted to be the first person to figure him out.

"You're staring, Keira," Fisher told me from his algebra textbook. "There's no need to be rude."

I looked at my older brother, still blushing even though I now knew it wasn't the kind of blush you felt when you were interested in someone you just met. "Sorry," I muttered.

He glanced in the direction I'd been looking, and I watched him grin and then lower his voice. "I take it you've had a chance to get to know the other new student in your grade," he said to me.

"He barely talks to me," I told Fisher. "And I can't figure out why. Surely I can't have done anything so wrong for him to behave that way, even if Abigail says he never really talks to anyone. And I still can't understand why I want to know why he won't talk to me."

Fisher sat up straight in his chair. "Is he . . . I mean, does he behave inappropriately?" he asked, the tone in his voice that of an older brother and not someone who was teasing me.

I sighed softly. "No, of course not. He's just acting strange," I amended.

For a few seconds after I said that, it was quiet, and then Fisher closed his textbook and put his pen down, rising from his chair slowly.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, watching him push the chair out and then move toward the corner where Edward was sitting. "Fisher," I hissed. "Get back here!"

He glanced over his shoulder at me, holding his hand up to me and then arriving at the desk next to Edward's.

I sat there stuck to my own chair, watching my brother interact with Edward for a few minutes. They shook hands, and Fisher grinned, glancing back at me and then pointing in my direction. Edward nodded, still writing in his journal and then leaning closer to Fisher to speak too softly for me to hear what they were saying. It looked like they were just talking about trivial things, but I had no idea what was being said. I put my head in my hand after a few minutes, leaning over the table and wishing I hadn't even said anything to my brother. Surely he could've done something other than this.

When Fisher came back and sat down, I looked at Edward, seeing that he was again immersed in his journal. Whatever they'd said, he hadn't even reacted. Fisher didn't say anything either. I leaned closer to him.

"What did you just do?" I demanded softly.

"What?" he exclaimed just as quietly. "I was just introducing myself. You said he never talks to anyone. Someone has to do it first. He's new. We're new. It's all right, Keira."

I sighed heavily, glancing at Edward again and noticing he was again looking at me. And after what Fisher had just done, I felt mortified, especially since I still had one class left in the day with him.

Mr. Jennings, John, was sitting at his desk when I stepped into English class, and I took a chance to peek into the room before I took a step into it, hoping he wasn't there. But my hopes faded the moment I saw him sitting at his desk still as a statue. I noticed he wasn't writing in his journal. It was closed over the top of his desk, and his arms were folded over his chest. I tried not to notice how the shirt he was wearing seemed to be tailored to fit his arms and shoulders in a way that made him even more appealing to my eyes. I glanced at Mr. Jennings, bowing my head and moving to my desk without saying anything, and I figured English would be much like every other class we had together.

I didn't look around as I sat down, but I could feel him looking at me. He never spoke, but it was unnerving to know he'd spoken to Fisher and was still going to act like we weren't sitting next to each other and didn't have the same schedule. I didn't like how I thought it had been done like that on purpose. I knew we were probably on the same curriculum, and the faculty grouped the smarter students together in contrast to most of the other struggling students. It wasn't possible for any of the teachers to have know we would be moving into town at the same time and had decided to put us in class together. It was completely accidental.

Mr. Jennings stood up then, addressing the class as he moved around to the front of his desk. "All right, everyone quiet down," he called. "We're going to be doing something a little different. I know we've already started on our mechanics lessons for the semester, but in addition to that, I want to talk to you about something a little more important. College."

A girl in the front row giggled, and he smiled.

"Well, I'm glad you find that amusing, Samantha," he said, causing her to stop and blush. "But this is very serious. You're only sophomores in High School now, but in just a couple of years, you're all going to be out there in the real world. And I've got news for all of you. It's not a walk in the park. Most of you have known me for the last couple of years, since I _am_ the Advanced English teacher and most of you actually _want_ to go to college, but to those of you who don't know me," he said, looking pointedly at both me and Edward, "I want to be much more than just your teacher. You're lives are going to be getting much more complicated than they are right now, and I don't want any of you to think you can't come to me or another teacher here with any of your questions. Most of you probably don't even know what you want to do with your lives once you're finished with school, but when that day comes, I want to know that I did everything in my power to prepare you for that world out there your parents have to live in every single day. So, for the rest of the semester, and more than likely for the rest of the next few years, we're going to be doing something a little different in light of events outside our control."

A boy a few seat ahead of me raised his hand, and Mr. Jennings gestured to him.

"Yes, Matthew."

"We're not going to have to do extra work, are we?" he asked, more like pleaded.

"The real world is all about doing extra work, Matthew," Mr. Jennings stressed, and I could've sworn I heard Edward scoff so softly it wasn't possible for him to have done it. "It's not rocket science, but you'll always have to do something extra to get to do what you really want to do. We all do. Ten years ago, when I got out of college, after the Depression, I wanted to be a lawyer. But circumstances never really lent themselves to me for it to be possible. Now, I know you're all young, and I don't think your parents would disagree when I say I want you all to be teenagers for a long time after you leave my class, but the harsh reality is that it isn't that simple anymore. We live in world now where wars are won by dropping bombs on entire cities and by killing thousands, if not millions of people. We've survived dictators like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. This world isn't all happy endings anymore."

He paused and looked around at all the other students, and it looked like he knew all these things from experience. I wondered what could happen to a person to make them aware of this, but then I realized I knew what it all felt like to lose what bit of innocence you had left that was tethered to a part of your life you never thought you would lose. And I'd lost that. I knew the world was not a happy place, and I knew there weren't always happy endings. People died, sometimes violently with no real reason, and it was strange to feel the same thing a teacher felt and was trying to ingrain into the minds of his teenage students, most of which would never know what real loss felt like until they were out of high school and possibly college. But I already knew that.

"I want all of you to start thinking hard about what you want to do with your lives after you finish school," Mr. Jennings continued. "If not for your future, then for your own peace of mind. And whether you want to be a doctor or a collegiate professor of the arts, as long as it's something you pick that you know you're good at, then it'll be something you can build on. And try not to consider it an assignment. Think of it as an exercise. And it's okay if you have no idea what you want to do right now. Think about what you're good at and whether you could do it for the rest of your life. Now, unless there are anymore questions, get out your homework so we can go over it before the quiz I'm going to give you at the end of class."

Half the students in the class groaned loudly, and he stood up from his desk, smiling and waving his hand at everyone. "I know," he cajoled. "I know. We all love my quizzes. Let's get a move on."

I was one of the only two students who didn't really complain as I pulled my homework from my notebook and produced it to the girl in front of me as she sighed annoyingly. I glanced beside me and realized for once that Edward and I actually might have something in common.

Fisher was waiting for me when I left English as he usually was when I was done for the day, and when he took me under his arm, I saw him peek into class for a second before pulling me on to leave the building.

"He's already gone," I told Fisher. "He always leaves right when the bell rings. It's almost like he has it timed."

Fisher made a face as if to 'hmm,' but I knew what he was up to. He was always trying to do something I didn't want him to do, especially with Kyle still being abrasive to everyone who so much as looked at him funny. Mother and Father were already settled in to their new lives, and it looked like Fisher had accepted the situation for what it was. It seemed only Kyle and I were the ones left who still wanted things to go back to the way things had been. I missed Seattle. I missed my friends. I'd made new ones, but it still wasn't the same.

Kyle was waiting for us by the car, and though he opened my door for me, he barely gave me enough time to get in before he closed the door. Fisher looked at him reproachfully, but Kyle got into the driver's seat without uttering a word. I sat back with the full intention of resting my eyes and my mind from the long day, but as had become the usual thing for me, just as Kyle pulled out of the parking lot and drove passed the car Edward came to school in, I found myself looking at him through the window. He never moved, still as a statue, but there was still something off about him. And I still wanted to know what it was.

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_**Again, thank you for reading, and I hope you liked it!**_

_**A few things before we part:**_

_**Translations:**_

_**Installez-vous des enfants - Settle down children**_

_**Vous avez déplacé ici de Seattle - You moved here from Seattle**_

**_If there's any confusion, I promise I'll try to answer any questions anyone has._**


	4. Popular 2

**This is part 2 of Chapter 2. In order to understand it, I beg you to please read the first part in Keira's perspective. Not everyone has to like her, but it would be nice to know what everyone thinks of her and the interaction of her and Edward and other characters.**

**Read on.  
**

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_**Popular**_

_**September, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

Most if not all humans never interest me to the point of needing to avoid their presence in order to prevent an intensely awkward situation. And I like it that way. It makes life easier if I don't have to keep up the appearance that I'm not interested every time I'm within their presence. But this time, it was different. And I wasn't really certain why. Not yet. And it was difficult not to do what came to me naturally and find out for myself if my suspicions were correct. They almost always were, and this time, I'd managed to hit the mark on the first try.

This human, I believe her name was Keira, was unlike any of the other students attending the school we were both standing outside right now. And I was positive she was very aware of how much unlike everyone else she was. She dressed differently. She walked differently. She spoke differently. And it inevitably drew enough attention to her for me to gain the ability of not having to invade her thoughts every time I was around her. A girl in our Advanced Mathematics class stared at her all through class wondering what she did to keep her hair so smooth. And a boy in our French class made pathetic attempts at impressing her with his horrid ability to butcher the language we were there to learn. And she was never impressed.

Oh, for the Love of all things. French. What a terrible disaster I'd made of what should have been the easiest situation of my entire existence. I still have no clue what was wrong with me, but I'd come so far, and I wasn't taking a step back just to show her I wasn't the rude, uninvolved boy she thought me to be. But the instant she'd blushed and begun to speak with her soft voice, I'd felt all my restriction of reading thoughts fall away almost immediately. She was by far the strangest human I'd ever met, even when I'd been human, and those memories were getting cloudier every day that passed. And she refused to be deterred. I couldn't do or say anything to prevent her from thinking it was her duty to figure out what was going on in my head or my life. How was I supposed to avoid her when I had to sit next to her in every class where the teachers all seemed keen on seating us next to each other for the mere fact of us both being new to them? Was it that they simply couldn't treat us like normal students?

Standing in the parking lot after school with Rosalie and Emmett, I watched her walk to the car her oldest brother drove, listening to him mentally berate her for taking her time and then watching the other with her shoot a rather reproachful look in his direction. I really did not like her oldest brother. He was loud and obnoxious. Rosalie had already determined him to be haughty and full of contempt, and Emmett was telling me the other brother was the nicer of the two. Watching him settle into the passenger seat, I could agree with that. He was attentive to her to say the least, waiting for her at the end of class and sitting with her during study period even though it was clear he was older than her and had probably already made friends his own age. It was clear he loved her very much. And I knew why.

It wasn't something I was proud of, especially when I do have to make an effort to not read other people's minds without their consent, which for me is usually never, but I'd happened upon this piece of information rather accidently, and it was a little disconcerting. Listening to Mr. Jennings' speech this afternoon had stirred a strange set of thoughts in Keira's mind, and for the slightest of seconds, she'd agreed with him on several of his points. And knowing what she'd already been through in the last several months of her life made me wonder how she'd managed to cope. It was clear she'd loved her grandmother and had been saddened by her passing. The two of them, her and her older brother — the nice one — each seemed to have a set of memories the eldest either didn't have or didn't care about enough to think of most of the time. Knowing what I knew about him and his disdain for the mundane life he'd been dealt was not helping his cause, especially with the several teachers he'd already insulted by not taking their classes seriously. I'd learned not to do that quickly, but he didn't seem to care.

"Edward, she's barely fifteen years old," Rosalie informed me as I stood next to the car watching Keira leave with her brothers.

I glanced at her, sliding into the back seat as Emmett sat in the driver's seat. Having "just turned 18," he'd been settled in enough to drive me and Rosalie to school, and I knew he was listening. "Your point?" I asked her.

"She's fifteen," Rosalie repeated. "And you're not. We don't need to draw anymore attention to ourselves than we already have moving to this small, insignificant town. Even the teachers would dislike you pursuing her."

I inhaled deeply, the action more reflexive than anything since I didn't actually need the oxygen anymore. "I'm not pursuing her, Rosalie," I assured her. "I'm just trying to figure her out. She's very complex — not at all like the other students here."

"Well, she's not from around here," Emmett said obviously. "Of course, she's complex. She's cute too."

Rosalie slapped his shoulder as we pulled out of the parking lot to get back to the house where Esme was no doubt waiting to hear about our day. "Emmett, that's completely inappropriate," she chastised. "And she's human. You know what Carlisle said about exposure. Whether Edward is lonely or not, he should know better than to risk the attraction of a girl who could very well expose us to the entire town. Then where would we go? We just got here!"

Emmett smiled devilishly even as he drove, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "Maybe we'd finally be able to get off on our own again," he suggested, and I could see and hear every salacious thought running through his head at that very moment.

"Will you please stop doing that?" I demanded, tempted to kick the back of his seat but denying myself the pleasure since he was driving. "I am still sitting back here. Thank you very much."

He laughed, but he knew I was serious, so he started thinking about when our next hunting trip would be.

"I'm serious, Edward," Rosalie pressed. "Carlisle can find you a nice female companion who doesn't live around here, and we can just live our lives like normal. Please don't do anything stupid."

I looked at her incredulously, especially since she and Emmett were the ones walking around the school like two idiotic lovers concealing their affair rather poorly. "I believe I'm old enough to know when I'm about to do something stupid," I argued. "And Carlisle can't find me a nice female companion. It's not as simple as it was with you and Esme. Those were chance, happenstance. This girl is just different, and I'm trying to understand why. That's all."

"Didn't you already, you know, read her mind and all?" Emmett asked, now speeding out of town toward our house.

I smirked. "I try _not_ to do that without someone's permission. And it wouldn't help with her anyway. She has more complex thoughts than any fifteen-year-old girl I've ever met."

Rosalie tilted her head, sitting in hear seat sideways and partially facing me. "Are you saying she's not, um, well, a virgin?" she asked curiously.

"No, that is not what I'm saying," I exclaimed, unsure why the implication was enough to make me feel like I needed to defend this girl's honor despite not having spoken to her willingly since first meeting her. "I mean, she has more complicated thoughts than anyone else her age. She's been through enough by her age to be twice as old as she is now, and it's just not as easy as I thought it would be to understand her."

"So you can read her thoughts and the thoughts of everyone else around her," Emmett said, "and you've been doing it for the last two weeks, and you still don't have her figured out?"

I folded my arms over my chest, nodding curtly. "Yes, that is the general consensus," I acknowledged.

He smiled again, jovial at this new revelation I'd apparently afforded him. "Well, I think that makes her the first human to be completely immune to you — as far as the whole prospect of attraction."

In a way, he was right. Most of the girls in the school all thought about me at one point or another. It wasn't that I was overconfident. It was simply a statement of fact. And I had the proof right there in their thoughts. I barely had to do anything, and it was sometimes annoying to know someone was already obsessed with you before you even met them. But Keira was different. She acknowledged every attribute of my exterior — my eyes, my voice, even my body — but she refused to be swayed by them. For the last two weeks, she'd preferred to figure me out as much as I believe I wished to figure her out as well. It was an interesting and fascinating experience to say the least.

"Oh, please, Emmett," Rosalie chastised. "You make it sound like she finds him repulsive. No girl can look at Edward and not think he's the devil in sheep's clothing. All the girls talk about him. Even a lot of the older ones who are in my grade."

"Well, this girl can apparently resist his charms," he teased. "I'd kind of like to meet her. How does she smell?" he asked off-handedly.

I exhaled loudly, staring at him in the rear-view mirror, and Rosalie even gave him a scolding look. "Honestly? That's your most logical question? How does she smell?" I asked.

He lifted his eyebrows. "Well?"

"Emmett, that's rude!" Rosalie exclaimed. "What does it matter?"

I smirked again. "Well, after what happened last time."

"How was I supposed to know that was going to happen?" he shot back, and I glared at him in the mirror.

After another few seconds of him holding my gaze in the mirror, I gave in, recalling the scent I'd taken from Keira. "She smells nice," I told him. "And not just her blood. She smells almost like gardenia with a hint of rose. And I believe she uses sandal wood perfume. It was her grandmother's."

"That's expensive," Rosalie informed me, even though I was fairly certain she already knew I was aware of that fact. "I wonder if it was handed down to her."

I said nothing to her comment, opting to settle back into the seat and watch the world go by at nearly eighty miles per hour, which was well over the local speed limit. I couldn't wait to be able to drive myself to school, to be alone with my thoughts on the drive into town and to have no one to force their own opinions on me. I didn't want to wait until I was old enough, but I knew I would have to, so I simply endured it for the time being.

We were just pulling up the drive to our house when Rosalie spoke again, this time more informative than usual.

"We're going back into town later for a movie," she said, though her thoughts told me they were actually going to watch the local teenagers mingle for a few hours. "You should come with us. You need to get out of the house for a change."

Emmett parked in the driveway then, and I got out without saying anything to her. I moved through the side entrance to the house, bypassing Esme and Carlisle and making my way up to my room without saying anything to anyone. I knew I wouldn't be able to escape everyone's thoughts while I was in the house, but if Rosalie and Emmett were going back into town, she would be in her room getting ready so I wouldn't have to worry about anything inappropriate taking place during those few hours. It was after they got back in from town that I had to worry over. In an additional two weeks to the last time I'd spoken to Carlisle, they still couldn't keep their hands off each other, not even for the benefit of another person in the house.

I spent a few hours — the same few hours in which Rosalie primped herself for her night out — doing what the teachers at the school liked to call "homework," even though it barely took me a fourth of the time I sat there at the desk overlooking the side lawn, which also incidently overlooked the west side of the forest. For most of the rest of the time, I found myself thinking about Keira. I knew she was also far too young for me to even think of being friends with, and I was certain neither Carlisle nor Esme would really appreciate me exposing our family to her. But she wasn't like any of the girls in school. She was sad and lonely, and I still couldn't figure out exactly why. It wasn't only that she missed her grandmother or her old school or her friends there. There was something deeper going on inside her, and I wanted to know what is was.

The door to my room opened close to five-thirty, and Rosalie stepped inside without a word to me as she moved to the closet Esme had seen to filling with clothes for me to wear. She browsed for a minute or two, extracting a jacket and pants before she made her way to me and lifted me to my feet. She never said anything, holding the jacket up to me and then glancing over the shirt I was still wearing.

"You'll wear this," she informed me. "Hurry up. We're leaving in ten minutes."

She left then, and I stood still for a minute only to have her call back to me through the door.

"Get dressed. Esme wants you to go out, and you don't want to disappoint her, now do you?"

I inhaled deeply, moving away from my desk and proceeding to change into the clothes Rosalie had chosen for me. I realized then that I didn't want to disappoint Esme. She did want to see me happy, and if going into town every now and then made her happy, then I guess it was my place to oblige her.

I hadn't been into town with Rosalie and Emmett since we'd arrived four weeks earlier, and I wasn't looking forward to it now, but when I saw the look on Esme's face as I made my way downstairs, I decided not to let it show on my face that all I really wanted to do was go back to my room and mull for the night. She looked happier than she had since getting here, and it was nice to see her not worry about me for a change.

"You look handsome," she said with a smile. "Surely, you'll be able to make friends in a less formal setting than school. You will try to enjoy yourself, please?"

I smiled, stepping forward and kissing her cheek. "I will."

"All right now," Rosalie said impatiently. "We should go. It's Friday night, and everyone from school will be at the new drive-in."

She grabbed my arm, pulling me out the side door to the car where Emmett was already waiting. He was dressed up in the same color scheme as she was, and I noticed how my jacket somehow matched his. I realized then she wasn't going to let me out of this as easily as I'd hoped. The radio was silent as Emmett drove us into town, but I didn't need it. There was a woman playing a piano along the highway, and I zoned in on it easily, wondering exactly what Rosalie planned to accomplish by dragging me into town.

Almost all the traffic in town was moving in the direction of the sole film theater in town, and despite the cloudy and bleak weather the day had provided, no one seemed to be in a dreary mood. As a matter of fact, nearly everyone parked inside the drive-in theater near the north side of time appeared to be in a rather happy mood. I knew I would have to simulate being happy for the next few hours, and I knew Rosalie wouldn't have it any other way, especially when she snuggled up next to Emmett and gave me a look that told me to get out of the car. I happily obliged her.

There were more people here than there were in the entire school, so it was clear more people had ventured here than just the young population in town. There was a sitting area near the concession, and I made my way there slowly, looking around to see what film was going to play. _Love Letters_. I'd never seen it before, even though I was more of a book man myself, but I sat at one of the tables there quietly with the complete intent of minding my own business. Less than ten minutes after I sat down, however, my attention was drawn away by the sound of girls giggling behind me from less than twenty feet away.

"Surely, he's not too new for him to have met a girl," one of them whispered. I recognized her voice for obvious reasons. Jennifer Davis, the most popular sophomore in school according to most of the other boys in my gym class. "Keira, go talk to him." _He's an absolute dreamboat, even if he is a little off._

I fought temptation to look over my shoulder, staring unfocused at the film screen as the black and white images blurred together seamlessly. My brain betrayed me as her thoughts came to my attention.

_He obviously wants to be left alone._ "I didn't come here to flirt, Jennifer," she said politely. "I came with Abigail and Fisher. You go talk to him."

The overpowering sensation to turn my head won out, and I unwillingly snuck a peek at her with her group of friends. She was standing between her brother Fisher and Abigail from my Advanced Mathematics class. She looked friendly and sympathetic tonight, but Jennifer appeared to be relentless, eyeing me curiously and still thinking some of the most inappropriate things for a girl her age.

"He doesn't stare at me during lunch," Jennifer informed Keira softly, giggling again. "And I know you want to talk to him. Here's your chance."

While standing next to Keira, Abigail took her hands and pulled her along about ten seconds before Fisher followed them. "I'll come with you," she said to Keira.

After a few more seconds, Abigail whispered softly. "It's okay. He's nice. At least when I talk to him, he is," she said glancing in Jennifer's direction.

From the distance, I took notice to what they were wearing and realizing their dresses were different from their usual attire at school. Keira's dress was green from what my keen eyes told me, with white trim along her collar and the hem of her skirt, and her blond hair was pulled up into an elegant bun, leaving enough room between her collar and the strands of her hair already fallen around her face for a simple chain that held a small locket. She blushed as soon as she within a few feet of where I was sitting, but she remained curious, almost like she could read my mind even though I knew that was impossible.

Fisher seemed able to take the initiative, sitting across the table from me and extending his hand as he'd done in study period earlier when introducing himself. "Nice to see you again," he said cordially, smiling and then lifting his eyes I noticed were actually blue-green to Keira and Abigail as they stood there hesitantly.

"You as well," I nodded, shaking his hand. I liked him. He was a good person, and it didn't seem to bother him that I kept to myself. It would have been rather annoying if he weren't so pleasant to listen to — which I _wasn't_ doing on purpose, and that's a promise.

Abigail took his lead, pushing Keira into the chair next to mine before resigning to the chair beside Fisher.

"Did you get dragged here too?" Fisher asked me, and I looked at him.

I studied him for barely half a second, remembering Esme and Rosalie and deciding to err on the side of caution. "Of course," I confirmed.

"And you would much rather be at home doing something else worth your time?" he continued, reminding me of the conversation I'd listened to him have with his sister in study period. I got the feeling he was testing me, and it was interesting to see the challenge in his eyes.

"Well, I, um, finished all of my school work," I admitted, feeling a small smile crease my right cheek. "And Rosalie insisted. Apparently, she doesn't want me to become a recluse."

"There isn't much to do in such a small town, is there?" he agreed.

The lone resident of the town we were currently occupying who happened to be sitting at our table spoke up then. "Being from a big city and then moving to such a small town must be strange," Abigail commented, glancing at Keira and nodding in my direction. _Talk to him._

Keira inhaled deeply, glancing at me and smiling politely. _"Vous avez déplacé ici de Rochester?"_ she inquired, blushing even more deeply and inadvertently causing a reaction I wasn't expecting as she stirred my thirst unknowingly.

I felt my chest constrict slightly, and I had to look away, attempting to recover as quickly as possible and unwillingly coughing softly.

"Hey, are you all right?" Fisher asked, lightly touching my back.

I had trouble finding my voice, moving his hand away. "I'm — I'm fine. Please excuse me," I whispered, rising quickly and leaving the table without thinking about where I was going to go. I didn't care. And I wasn't expecting her to follow me, but she did. I was halfway across the car lot when I heard her voice and then her thoughts.

"Edward," she called. _I'm such an idiot. Why is he so strange? All I did was talk to him._

I stopped reluctantly, turning to face her as she arrived at where I was. "Please don't," I whispered, holding my hand to her for her to stay away.

"I don't understand," she said to me. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," I insisted. "It's nothing you've done. But I can't stay here. I apologize for my behavior, but I must go."

I started to walk away, unconsciously listening to what she was thinking.

_Of course. Why would I expect anything else from him at this point?_

I wanted to stop, to prove to her it had nothing to do with her, but I couldn't give in. Despite my inability to understand her completely, I couldn't allow that to rule my actions. It was just better this way. And then I remembered that I would have to sit next to her in all of my classes on Monday, and I realized the more avoided her, the worse this would get. She would never stop trying to figure me out, and I couldn't avoid her forever — well, not literally. I couldn't risk causing trouble for Carlisle and Esme by not going to school when they'd worked so hard to enroll me.

My feet froze in place, causing me to glance over my shoulder to see that she was still standing there in between cars with other occupants watching the film playing. Without knowing what I was going to say, I moved closer to her slowly, gauging her reaction to me as she folded her arms over her slim chest. She stood up straighter the closer I got, lifting her eyes to mine as I stopped in front of her.

"That was . . . rude of me," I said softly. "And I am truly sorry for making you feel as though you've done anything to warrant my behavior. This is a new place for me as well, and I suppose I'm still adjusting. I didn't mean to offend you. I swear."

Her face was unreadable, even though her thoughts told an interesting story. _That was different._

"Shh," a voice behind me hissed, and I turned around, realizing where I was standing.

I looked at her. "Perhaps we should sit back down," I suggested.

She looked around also, and with another glance in my direction, she bowed her head, leading the way back to the sitting area where Fisher and Abigail were now eating food from the concession attached to the drive-in.

Fisher rose as we arrived, allowing me and his sister to sit before he sat back down. "You all right now?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," I assured him. "Please allow me to apologize for leaving. There's no excuse, so perhaps we can simply forget it happened."

He looked at Keira, and she looked at me. For a moment, I thought she would tell him something different. But she smiled and looked at Abigail.

"Yes, please," she said softly. "We should forget it." And then she did something no one had done — other than her brother earlier that day — when she extended her hand to take mine. "Clean slate?"

I extended my hand to hers slowly, taking it in mine gently and feeling her shiver as our skin made contact. A confused looked eased over her face, but she said nothing, instead thinking something no one else in their right mind would ever consider.

_He's so cold._

She certainly was a curious fifteen-year-old girl, much more than I'd expected anyone her age to be, and she didn't mind a challenge. Apparently to her, I was it. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but for the first time in a long time, I don't think I minded as much as I should have. Esme would be pleased, though I wasn't so certain Rosalie would approve.

* * *

It was after ten o'clock before Rosalie, Emmett and I returned to the house after a night out, and they almost immediately ran to their room and shut the door to have what they only perceived to be privacy. Of course, to a house full of vampires, there really was no such thing, and I was able to hear every little sound they made on the way and even after the door was closed. I was definitely looking forward to the time when they would "cool down" and give me a little peace.

"How was the drive-in?" Carlisle asked, coming out of his study as I stood in the foyer of the house alone.

"It was fine," I said confidently, wondering if he could hear the subtle difference in my voice since I knew I certainly could.

"Rose wasn't too persistent?" he pleaded, smiling gently.

"Of course she was," I admitted, "but that is her way. It was fine," I said again.

He stepped closer to me, his smile widening as he came to be less than a couple feet away from me. "You've met someone," he said. "I can see a change in you. She's human?"

I bowed my head, but I didn't say anything, knowing I wouldn't need to. Despite his inability to read my mind, we'd been together for nearly 30 years, so he knew me inside and out. Esme and Rosalie were quickly on their way, but Emmett simply didn't care at the moment.

"Is she a nice girl?" he asked, somewhat teasingly.

"She is," I said softly. "She's just a friend. But she's curious. Interestingly so."

"And you know to be careful about what we discussed when we first arrived here," he insisted, his thoughts centering around how we were all supposed to be careful about exposure as though I weren't already aware of what was expected of me.

"I'm being careful," I assured him. "You wanted me to make a friend, and I've done that. It will help me fit in to have normal people to be around."

He nodded and smiled again, his thoughts changing slightly as he remembered the principal and the secretary at the school. "Did you meet her at school?" he asked, moving to the stairs and prompting me to follow him. "Or did you just meet her tonight?"

"I met her at school," I revealed. "She belongs to the other new family in town. Her father is Walter Jones."

"The new legal advisor at the police station?" Carlisle asked, intrigued.

I nodded. "The same. But they moved here from Seattle. I believe she was enrolled in one of the preparatory schools there. Her family is actually quite wealthy."

"Is she attractive?" he asked, and if I'd been able, I'm certain would have blushed, especially since Keira was attractive despite her curiosity.

I thought of her blond hair which was shorter than Rosalie's but somehow looked more lively with highlights from time in the sun no doubt, and I remembered her vibrant blue eyes along with her friendly smile. She always had a gentle blush in her cheeks, and in contrast to the smell on her skin, her blood gave her away every time I was near her. I didn't know if it was due to my presence or not, but I'd already decided not to avoid her anymore. It was easier not to anyway.

I didn't need to say anything for Carlisle to know my answer to his question.

"Well, I know it would be customary for you to bring her over for us to meet her," he said, "but we should wait a little while longer before we take that step. And then after a short while, you can bring her here some time when it's safe. As long as it isn't without a chaperone. Esme would be more than happy to accommodate you and your new friend."

I bowed my head, aware of his precaution and accepting it as he released me to my room while returning to his. Down the hall, I could already hear Rosalie and Emmett, and I was slightly mortified when I realized what they were doing. I knew no matter how much I tried, I wasn't going to be able to concentrate on anything else all night.

It was after midnight and the moon was high before Emmett and Rosalie quieted down despite their well-padded room, and I was able to lay on the small lounge chair by my window and thinking of what my life had been like that morning before French Class. It wasn't only the fact that I'd come to a decision about Keira. In the last thirty years, I hadn't really had a friend outside of Rosalie and Emmett, and I wondered what it would feel like to have friends I could at least attempt to appear normal with — without all the jostling and competition for attention.

* * *

_**Again, thank you for reading, and I hope you liked it! And I hope this makes it easier to read for you all. Tell me what you think!**_

_**A few things before we part:**_

_**Translations:**_

_**Vous avez déplacé ici de Rochester - You moved here from Rochester**_

_**Et vous - And you**_

_**And a word on sandal wood - It's a very rare commodity, so rare in fact that only extremely wealthy people were able to afford it. This should say something about Keira's family, I hope.**_

_**And without Alice there, someone had to dress Edward, but I didn't want Rosalie to be nice about it, so until Alice shows up, consider her his personal attire coordinator. *snicker***_

_**Until next time, Keep Calm & Carry On!**_


	5. Curiosity & Fascination 1

**Now for the real update for today! I just got finished going through this chapter, so it is hot off the presses just for you (all of you who are actually reading!) I know it's been a little confusing today, but I hope you can all get to this chapter with a little bit of anticipation. Please?**

**Onward and Downward!  
**

* * *

_**Curiosity & Fascination**_

_**October, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

Monday morning was cloudy and rainy as it had been the last four weeks, and even though I hadn't slept at all the night before — hadn't really needed to sleep at all — I remained in my room well after dawn, watching the soft gray light from outside permeate the windows to my room while Rosalie and Emmett emerged ready to get to school. I lingered in my room without a real desire to go until Esme knocked on my door.

"Edward, it's time for school," she said softly.

I glanced back at her, lifting my journal from my desk and following her downstairs where Rosalie and Emmett were waiting for me. I knew my lack of desire had nothing to do with anything that had transpired Friday night. I knew I didn't want to go to school because it was the most mundane place to spend any amount of my time, but I also knew that if I didn't go, Carlisle or Esme would have to make up some excuse for me to remain home. I wasn't about to make them suffer for trying to make my life bearable.

We'd been living among humans for thirty years, and I wasn't the person to brag about how perfect my behavior had been. In fact, I was the last person to pretend I was the model student or brother or son to anyone involved in my life. For a few years there before we'd found Rosalie, I'd spent my time believing I could be like every other vampire in the world. But I'd been wrong, and I didn't want to be wrong again. Not when our existence was as stake. So for the time being, I would go to school. I would attempt to fit in — to be as invisible as I possibly could even though I knew it would not be any easy task.

I sat in the back seat of the car watching Emmett and Rosalie and wondering if they'd decided not to talk about what had happened, since I'd spent the last two days listening to Rosalie grumble about the fact that I'd done exactly the opposite of what she'd requested. She never said anything to me about it, of course. Though I was a good twenty years ahead of her in vampire years, she still relished in the idea and fact that she'd been changed a full year in Human appearance than me and she always would be despite how much more I'd been through dealing with her superiority than anyone else.

The front parking lot of school came into sight before I realized we were already there, and I remembered everything that had happened here when I'd been here last. I didn't really want to over think what I would say or do the first time I saw Keira, especially since I was still at somewhat of a loss as to what was really going on with her. I'd never met a person whose mind I could read and still didn't have the ability to know exactly who they were and what they wanted. Most people were only interested in their own lives and making everyone else's miserable. And most people avoided me because that's what their instincts told them to do. The girls all looked at me from a distance, thinking stupid fantasies and desires they had no business thinking, and the boys all wondered how I was able to garner the kind of attention all the girls gave me. And it was just me. Emmett and Rosalie were clung to each other too tightly for them to be targets, and they stayed on the edge of people's peripheral vision while still remaining visible. I was the only one people could notice because I was the third wheel. Knowing all this as we pulled into the parking lot and slid into our usual spot, I silently wished one day that I wouldn't be a third wheel for the rest of eternity.

It was already seven-forty-five when I rose from the car and took a blank glance around the lot to see all the other students doing what I was doing. Just as my eyes passed by the entrance to the lot, the car Keira's older brother drove pulled into the parking lot and eased into a space adjacent to ours. She was wearing blue today with an elegant jacket since it was a bit cold, and she glanced over her shoulder at me with a small smile even as Fisher took her shoulders and directed toward the school. He glanced at me also, nodding in my direction and then following their older brother inside. She looked back one more time, and then she bowed her head.

_Maybe Abigail was right,_ she thought, and I wondered exactly what she meant.

Our first class together, Advanced Mathematics, was one of the more moderately acceptable classes I'd attended in a little while, especially when the teacher, Mr. Clarence attempted to make it appear like he knew more than he actually did. I wasn't fooled, however, especially since I'd already studied everything he could possibly teach me a few times at a college level that was well above his own skill. The other students didn't know this about me, so whenever he called on me and tried to hinder my process, most of them were usually impressed with how well I could spar with him. Everyone except Keira, of course. I'd yet to impress her, or rather impress upon her the fact that I wasn't normal and probably wasn't the best choice for her to become curious about. But after speaking with her Friday night and thinking over our conversation Saturday and Sunday, I'd realized it didn't matter if I tried to keep her away. She wasn't going anywhere. It was . . . comforting, somehow.

She was already in class when I arrived, sitting in her usual seat and talking to Abigail while the other students in class milled around trying to look like they didn't see me enter the room. A few girls and two boys failed, catching my gaze and immediately looking away. I grinned and moved to my chair which was on the other side of Keira, and she glanced at me just as Mr. Clarence came into the room. I got the sense that she wanted to say something, but he spoke before she could.

"All right, let's get to our seats," he said. "We have lessons to tend to. Everyone get out their homework and turn to chapter 3 in your books. We're going to be getting ready for the next set of lessons, starting next week, so I hope you've all be paying attention."

His eyes settled on me as I sat at the back of the room, and while I appeared to do as he asked, I got the feeling from him that he was still hoping to beat me somehow. I considered allowing him to believe he was smarter than me, but I honestly didn't see the point. Perpetuating his fantasies wasn't something I thought would alleviate the situation, so why give in now?

We turned in our homework, most of which had consisted of simple fractions and formulas that were far below my own abilities, and I sat back waiting for him to start. His voice droned on as he began explaining the next step, which included a test, and a stray thought from Keira's head was enough to draw my attention away from him for the moment.

_Thank goodness I won't be doing this when I go to college._

Intrigued, I leaned closer to her, speaking softly. "You intend to go to college?" I asked, swearing inwardly when I realized I'd actually spoken.

She looked at me while turning pages in her text book, one of which I did not own and did not need. "Sorry, did you say something?" she whispered, glancing up to make sure our teacher wasn't looking.

I leaned a little closer, gathering my thoughts. "Um, you're going to college?" I asked as off-handedly as I could.

She nodded. "Well, of course I am," she replied. "I won't be one of those girls whose life revolves around a boy or the man she marries. I want to have a dream of my own, separate from who I love. Don't you?" she asked, blushing slightly as she realized her words and then rephrased her question. "I mean, don't you want to have your own future, and not one tethered to the significant other in your life. If you had one, that is."

"I suppose so," I offered with a smile, fascinated by how easy it was for her to become embarrassed when she said the wrong thing despite the way she carried herself. She was obviously proud of her family and the life she'd lived before coming here. I admired that about her. She refused to blend in so people wouldn't notice her. That wasn't to say that she enjoyed the attention. It clearly made her uncomfortable. "And what is it you would like to do in college?" I asked, glancing ahead to preserve the privacy of our conversation.

She blushed again, tickling the edges of my thirst despite me having hunted just a few days earlier. "Well, my father wants me to be a lawyer," she revealed. "But I want to be a teacher."

I smiled again. "Is that so?" I teased.

She bowed her head. "Of course. Especially children, younger than me obviously. Probably five or six. Children are precious, don't you think?"

Listening to her talk about her aspirations was endearing. I'd have never thought she would want to be a teacher, of any age group. Carlisle was the only person I knew who took pride in helping people. I'd never really given much thought to what kind of future I would have or could have. When I'd been human, life decisions such as that were only reserved for those people who didn't have the means to choose whatever they wanted. They had to be selective about their futures in a way I'd never had to be up until I fell ill. Of course, I only thought about this for less than a 64th of a second, answering Keira instantaneously by her point of view. "Of course they are."

"Ahem!" Mr. Clarence called over the class, his thoughts causing me to turn my attention to him. _For the love of God, I'm the teacher! You'd think these children would respect that for once in their lives._ He was looking right at me. But he didn't say anything, scowling deeply.

I dismissed him easily.

* * *

Science, though it wasn't my favorite subject, was usually rather fascinating, especially when the teacher decided to assign what he called his semester projects which would go for the rest of the year until Winter break. I didn't usually like scavenger hunts, especially since it was sort pointless for someone like me. I spent time outdoors because I had to, not because I wanted to, and it wasn't something I liked doing because a teacher at school requested it so I could advance to the grade above mine. So when the Science teacher, Mr. Fillmore, demanded all of our attention at the beginning of class, I knew exactly where he was heading when he presented all of us with a small white bowl filled with little slips of paper.

"It's time for all of you to select your semester projects," he announced. _And I know for certain none of you will be expecting this,_ he thought off-handedly.

I grinned slightly, listening to all the thoughts of the students around me and then looking at Keira as she waited patiently for the teacher to call on her. While the other students were grumbling about what kind of project Mr. Fillmore could possibly assign to them, Keira was thinking about what kinds of things she could learn about the place around her. She was wondering about how she could impress the teacher, and I was intrigued at her ambition. Most of the students in school whined at the very idea of doing a project for any of their teachers. I didn't really have an opinion otherwise. But Keira was looking forward to it.

"Mr. Masen," Mr. Fillmore called, and I looked at him despite having heard every word he said. "You will be partnered with Ms. Jones, and if she would come up to the front of the class to select your project, it would be greatly appreciated."

I glanced at her, seeing that she was blushing again, and she glanced at me a few seconds before rising slowly to meet Mr. Fillmore at the front of the class room. She looked at everyone else, glancing over her shoulder at me until she was in front of him as he held the small bowl in front of her. The moment she picked the small slip of paper from the bowl, I knew immediately what we would be doing.

_Earth Sciences - Geology of the Pacific Northwest._

Instantly, I began thinking of the kinds of things that would be required for Mr. Fillmore to give a grade allowing his students to advance. He was such a simple man, and I knew it wouldn't take a lot to impress him with whatever project we decided to come up with. In two weeks, since Keira had started school, I'd accepted we were both new and were both more likely to be paired together for that purpose. In any other school, it would have better for the teachers to separate the newer students to give them a better chance of making friends. But here, it seemed like the teachers wanted to keep an eye on us for some reason. They either didn't trust me because I was so smart, or they didn't know her because her father had moved away as a small boy to live in Seattle.

She never complained. She always accepted the situation for what it was, and I always wondered what it felt like to want to do what she did. I didn't really know what it felt like to have to listen to the people around me and have no control over what happened to me. I hadn't really felt like that in 30 years, and even my mother and father had given me the kind of freedom more children these days usually dreamed of. Carlisle was always telling me to appreciate how freely we moved around now since it wasn't always going to be like this. Keira hadn't been given a choice in her move. Her father had made the choice for her. It made me feel . . . sorry for her.

When she sat down at my side with the slip of paper in hand, she looked at me, and she opened her mouth to speak, but Mr. Fillmore spoke first.

"For the next three months," he began, "until Winter break, you will collect and do research on your selected project, and I will grade your work on facts and the thoroughness of your work. You will turn your project on December 19, and you will receive your marks after the first of the year. This will amount to half your grade, people. I recommend that you don't dawdle around on this until the last possible moment. I will also be scheduling regular classes where you will be giving everyone an update on your project. For the rest of this class, I want all of you to come up with enough ideas to make a proper project."

Several of the students began talking over their various assigned projects, and I glanced at them before looking at Keira. She looked at me, speaking softly.

"Guess we should've seen something like this coming," she commented. "The teachers all seem to know something we don't."

I grinned slightly, looking around the room again. "It does seem obvious to them, doesn't it? Perhaps we should at least humor them for the time being."

She laughed softly, bowing her head and then handing me the slip of paper that was stained with Mr. Fillmore's somewhat sophisticated scrawl. "We should," she agreed.

"Shall we discuss it over lunch?" I asked, seeing a memory of a trip she took to the library in Seattle flash through her mind.

"We shall," she nodded, the curious smile on her face becoming more so even though it was only minutely. I was intrigued at how much difference I could see in her face as the milliseconds ticked by.

The end of class was signaled by Mr. Fillmore requesting a copy of the ideas his students were able to come up with over the forty-five minutes of class. I offered to hand in the copy, opting out of escaping from class the way I usually did, and Keira said she would see me in our next class. It was a different feeling to look forward to something rather than dreading the remainder of the day. I was intrigued to say the least as to what this would lead to.

I watched her brother Fisher walk her away from the door to her next class, and he nodded in my direction when he saw me. A natural smile crossed my face, and she looked over her shoulder at me, smiling herself at whatever the future might hold.

* * *

Gym class was an interesting experience by itself, and having Emmett here made it even more interesting despite him being a senior and me being a sophomore. The size of the school lent itself to the necessity for a mixture of students to have the same gym class together, and even though Rosalie always had an excuse to not participate, I noticed that Keira almost always took part in whatever the girls' instructor had planned for any particular day. Today it was badminton, and it looked like she was paired with Abigail against two girls in our Advanced Mathematics class.

"You sure are watching that girl a lot," Emmett commented as we stood across the gym together, pseudo-participating in the simple drills the boys' instructor had us doing this morning.

I looked at him as we ran at human pace from the center of the gym to the edge of the court we were currently occupying. "You look at human girls a lot," I told him, to which he chuckled.

"Don't tell Rosalie," he grinned. _She might try to make me tell her who they are if she finds out._

I grinned too, glancing over my shoulder at Keira as she played with Abigail and the girls from our grade. "She's just a friend," I told Emmett. "She's a very intriguing human, even if Rosalie wouldn't care to admit that out loud."

He laughed again. "Some of them can be more interesting than the others. You gonna ask her over or something?"

"I believe it would be customary for me to meet her parents first," I informed him. "And besides, she's just a friend. We're doing our science project together, so a meeting with Carlisle and Esme might be somewhere down the road. But only if you swear to behave yourself. It would be the first time since that last debacle we will have a human in the house."

The boys' instructor blew a whistle then, signaling it was time to stop, and he motioned for us to come to where he was standing. Emmett thought quickly.

_I'll behave myself,_ he promised. _Anything to keep you from moping around the house another three years._

I frowned at him. "I don't mope," I hissed, and he laughed again.

_If you say so._

"At least I don't have to worry about keeping Rosalie happy," I teased.

_I like to keep Rosalie happy,_ he quipped, followed by several lascivious images and thoughts and prompting me to grimace softly.

"Honestly, give it a rest," I pleaded.

He smiled, but he didn't say anything, nor did he think anything after that.

I immediately began thinking of reasons why I couldn't take Keira to my house when Emmett was there with Rosalie. I wondered if we would have to do more than read through books, and I decided it would probably be better to have the experience of studying the geology of the area as opposed to sitting in a library and reading about it. I thought about talking to Carlisle about possibly using a few of the books he had in his library to do comparisons. Mr. Fillmore would like that.

Even though I didn't sweat, and therefore didn't need a shower, it still looked a little strange that neither I nor Emmett required bathing after gym class, so we'd both begun the arduous task of joining the other boys in the locker rooms to "clean up" afterward so it wouldn't appear too odd that neither one of us ever broke a sweat during the hour and a half we spent in the gym. It was interesting sensation to _have_ to take a shower before being released back into the school's population for the rest of the day — especially the cafeteria for lunch where most of school body ate after their suffering through the morning monotony of their classes. Nearly all of them welcomed the break. I didn't care one way or another.

Rosalie was already sitting at the table we'd been occupying the last three weeks after they'd absorbed enough of each other's attention to come to lunch while at school. Today was different however as I decided to find a table to myself with the intention of speaking to Keira on a neutral level where we could talk without being interrupted by her friends or my siblings. I knew she was going to take this science project seriously, and I wanted it to look like I was doing the same. I'd already thought of several things for us to do to impress Mr. Fillmore, and it was only fair that I enlighten her to them. I was sure she would have her own ideas, and I wanted to give her the opportunity to impart them to me herself — without invading her thoughts without her permission.

The cafeteria was already filling up when I spotted her come in with Abigail, and I knew from her thoughts that she realized my intent. I was rather glad there was no need for explanation, and she made her way to the table I'd procured for us with only a glance in Abigail's direction. She sat down quietly, the air breezing toward me as she did so and carrying her scent along with it. Gardenia and rose wafted through the air, and I had no choice but to breathe in, causing her to speak softly.

"Are you going to eat?" she asked me.

I looked to see that she was brandishing an orange in my face, and I held up my hand to her.

"I've already eaten," I assured her, feeling the edges of my thirst prickle gently. "You should eat though. I've already made a list of possible subjects for our project, and you can look at those while you eat."

I slid the small sheet of paper in front of her, having remembered the list I'd given Mr. Fillmore completely and copied it down verbatim. I'd added a few things I thought would impress him, and as Keira began peeling her orange, the powerful citrus scent filled the air around her. I focused on that, watching her eat and listening to her wonder if her mother would have her favorite dessert waiting for her when she got home from school. Chocolate-marbled cake with butter cream icing. She also wanted to scoop of ice cream, in case she needed an extra treat before dinner.

"Hey, Keira."

I lifted my eyes to see one of the boys her age standing behind her, and she turned to see him there.

"Hey, Ethan," she said, giving him a friendly, if not forced smile.

_This guy already has half the girls in school pining away for him,_ Ethan grumbled silently. _Does he really have to steal the one girl who moved here from another city? These new kids all think like they can come in and just take whatever they want._

"Are you going to sit with us today?" he asked, turning his jealous brown eyes in my direction.

"Well, we have to talk about our science project," she said, gesturing to me and then looking at me. "Edward, this is Ethan Conway. Our fathers work in the police station together."

I looked at him, extending my hand and becoming perplexed when he hesitated. A slight chill flickered through his body as he took my hand in his, and I was pleased his deeper rooted instincts were intact despite him attempting to make me uncomfortable.

"Well, he can sit with us too," Ethan offered. "If you don't come over, I think Jennifer's going to make one of the freshman do something stupid."

"Maybe tomorrow," she suggested. "I've already started eating, and Abigail can keep Jennifer in line for now."

He stood there another half minute, looking at me and instead of moving on, he continued. "Well, what if I want you to sit with us?" he asked her.

She blushed gently, and when it was obvious he was embarrassing her, I spoke up. "It's quite clear she doesn't want to move," I told him, "so perhaps you should move on now. There are plenty of other girls here for you to harass."

"Maybe if you weren't here, she wouldn't be having such a hard time with it," he challenged, causing me to scoff softly.

"And it might just be that she doesn't want to sit with you," I snapped. I leaned over the table, lifting my eyes to his and hoping he could see something in them other than whatever façade I'd had in place to keep anyone from seeing what I really was. I watched him back up a couple of half-steps, pleased with the fact that I could still scare someone just by looking at them.

"It's okay," Keira said softly.

"She says it's okay," he repeated, and I stood up, easily towering over him and uncertain why I felt the need to do so.

"You're making her uncomfortable," I told him, unconsciously growling softly. "You should leave her alone."

For the slightest of seconds, I could see he was scared, but then he recovered, looking around and obviously spotting Emmett who was already on his way across the cafeteria to where we were standing. Then he looked at me.

"You're a freak," he spat, turning and leaving before Emmett could arrive to defend me.

"Take it easy," Emmett whispered, and I snapped out of the trance I'd slipped into upon rising to confront Ethan. I looked around, noticing a few teachers watching me, and I could see half the students in the cafeteria staring at me. "What was that?" Emmett asked, sitting down at the table with me where Keira was waiting bewildered by my behavior.

"I don't know," I hissed, too softly for her to hear me.

He looked at Keira, glancing behind him at Rosalie and prompting her forward before he looked up again. "I'm Emmett," he announced, reaching for her hand and eliciting the same reaction she'd had to me.

_They're both cold,_ she thought looking from my face to Emmett's and then up at Rosalie's as she arrived at the table and sat down with a rather annoyed look on her face. _I wonder if it runs in their family. That happens right? Some people's skin just feels colder than others, doesn't it?_

I grinned, glancing at Rosalie and nodding in her direction. "This is my sister Rosalie," I gestured.

She didn't extend her hand to Keira, and with the pleasantries out of the way, I leaned closer to her.

"I apologize if I made you uncomfortable," I said softly. "But I promise not to do it again unless you wish me to. All right?"

She smiled a little more easily and bowed her head. "All right," she agreed.

I nodded, sitting up straight and facing Rosalie as Emmett spoke.

"So," he said with a wide smile. "Science project huh? That sounds like it could take a lot of work. Any idea what you're going to do as of yet?"

_Science project?_ Rosalie demanded with her eyes trained on mine incredulously. _You mean you're not going to leave her alone? Surely you can get out of this without making anyone suspicious!_

I didn't acknowledge her, looking at Keira and pointing to her food. "Please, eat. I'm certain we'll be able to discuss this later today."

She realized the half-eaten orange on her plate along with the small salad, and with that, she began eating again while we sat with her silently. I didn't want to alienate her from the other students, but it was clear other boys were going to approach her like Ethan had because she was new, and it obviously made her uncomfortable. The less that happened, the easier it would be for her to become accustomed to the idea of being around me — and Emmett and Rosalie.

* * *

By the time we walked into English at the end of the day, I'd only been able to talk to Keira a small bit through French and the lone study period we both shared. And I wanted to make sure we had a set schedule before there was any confusion about where most of our project would get done. While I trusted Carlisle, Esme and Rosalie to give Keira a wide berth in the house, I still wasn't convinced that Emmett could control himself with a human nearby. The last time we'd had a human in our house, it had been an utter disaster, and we'd had to leave rather quickly. I didn't want that to be the case now. Though I'd only recently begun speaking to Keira on a mutual level, I was actually enjoying her company. I didn't want it to stop simply because Emmett still had somewhat poor impulse control.

Mr. Jennings was standing at the front of the class when we all filed inside, and I sat next to Keira with the explicit intention of speaking to her while he was taking in all the homework he'd assigned over the weekend. Most humans were completely oblivious to me when I whispered, and I had no doubt he wouldn't hear a peep out of me. Keira, on the other hand, was another story altogether. So I wrote her a note.

_We should meet after school is over to come up with a few possible locations to do our project. _I folded the paper and slipped it under her book while his back was to me.

It took her less than a second to notice it, and I waited while she wrote her response and slid it under my journal.

_The library has a small collection of books we could look through,_ she wrote.

I kept my eyes on Mr. Jennings as I responded, thinking the library would be quite appropriate for a first meeting place even if the selection of books was dreadfully obsolete. _Perhaps we could walk there after school,_ I wrote to her and folded the paper back to slide under her book.

She blushed even as she wrote. _Fisher will tease me about this for the rest of the week,_ she thought with a light chuckle even as she slid the paper under my journal.

_It shouldn't be a problem. As long as I'm home before dinner at seven,_ she wrote, and I thought about how much we could accomplish in the hour or two there would be before it began to get dark. The sun did set around five-thirty these days.

I was about to write a response to her when the voice of our teacher pulled my attention from my desk to see him standing less than three desks away from me.

"Mr. Masen," he said, and then he looked at Keira. "Ms. Jones."

She was blushing even deeper now that we'd been caught red-handed passing a note in class, and the speed at which her heart increased astonished me. It was obvious this had never happened to her before now. I had to admit it had never happened to me either.

"Something is obviously important enough to take your attention away from class," Mr. Jennings said, looking at me again and then looking at her. "So how about you two stay after class to give yourselves a little extra time to discuss it?"

He left no room for discussion as he turned and walked away, and Keira glanced at me before bowing her head and attempting to calm her nerves.

_My father's going to kill me,_ she thought dreadfully as she covered her face with her hands.

I wanted to say something even though I had no idea what I say to make this situation seem not as bad as it actually was. But with Mr. Jennings already watching us, I decided against it, carefully folding the note and slipping it inside my journal before I sat back and turned my eyes forward for the duration of class.

The forty-five minutes that passed wasn't as excruciating as I'd thought it would be since Mr. Jennings barely said a word to either of us for the remainder of class. The bell rang, and while the other students got up to leave, neither Keira nor I made any attempts to rise from our chairs. Mr. Jennings smiled at all his other students, and when it was just the two of us, I looked up to see Fisher waiting outside the door with his eyes trained on both of us.

"What going on?" he mouthed in Keira's direction.

"I can't leave," she responded without looking at me.

"Mr. Jones, how can I help you?" Mr. Jennings asked as he stepped toward the door.

Fisher stood up straight, looking his English teacher in the eyes. "I was just waiting for my sister."

"Well, your sister and Mr. Masen are going to be sitting here for a little while, so maybe you should wait for her outside."

He looked into the room, at Keira and then at me before he looked at Mr. Jennings and bowed his head. "Yes, sir."

Mr. Jennings smiled as Fisher left, looking at me and then her before he moved away from the door to make his way to where we were still sitting.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Emmett appear near the door, and I shook my head slightly so he wouldn't interrupt what I was certain would be a fairly lengthy lecture from my English teacher. Emmett sighed heavily, moving away from the door instantly before Mr. Jennings could see him.

"So," Mr. Jennings said. "What's so important that we can't pay attention in class?" he asked as he settled over one of the desktops with his arms over his chest. _Surely I'm not giving them so much to do that it's distracting them in class,_ he thought off-handedly.

"It was my fault," I admitted as guiltily as I could. "We have a science project we were assigned, and I wanted to get a good start on it."

"I see," he said with a smile. _So he does have an ambition._ "In need of a quiet place to get some work done for Mr. Fillmore's famous semester science project? Well, how about this? Since it's obvious you're comfortable not paying attention in my class, you can stay after class for an hour tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday so you'll have plenty of time to work on your science project."

Keira's pulse increased again, and she blushed so deeply I thought she was going to pass out on me. I tried to negotiate with Mr. Jennings for her benefit.

"That's not really necessary," I objected. "It won't happen again."

He smiled again. "Oh, I know it won't happen again, because for the next three days, you'll have plenty of uninterrupted time after class to talk about your project all you want. Do we understand each other?"

I knew it was useless to argue with him further, but Keira was absolutely beside herself with worry and fear.

_What am I supposed to tell my mother?_ she cried inside her head. I'd never felt more sorry for getting anyone into trouble than I did at that moment.

I looked at Mr. Jennings, seeing that he was apparently waiting for a response from me. "Yes, sir," I said softly, my eyes downcast to appear ashamed of my behavior. I was surprised that I actually did feel bad about making him think I didn't enjoy his class. It was one of the few bearable ones in school.

"Good," he said with a nod. "You two obviously have people waiting for you, so you can go. But tomorrow, I get your undivided attention before the end of class. All right?"

I nodded.

He didn't say anything else, turning from us and moving back up to his desk before I rose slowly. I waited for Keira, and she followed me reluctantly to leave the classroom silently. I tried to speak to her as soon as we were in the hallway.

"I apologize for getting you into trouble," I began only to be stopped by her.

"No, it's my fault," she insisted. "I should've been paying attention. Maybe we should just talk about the project at school. I have to go. I have to explain this to my parents."

She hurried ahead before I could stop her. _I've never been given detention in all my life! What was I thinking not paying attention? God, I'll never hear the end of this. I'm so stupid._

I followed her slowly, listening and wondering how I was supposed to alleviate this particular problem. I surprised myself by realizing that I wanted to fix this for her, even though I had no idea what this would mean for the next three days.

Emmett and Rosalie were both waiting in the parking lot when I stepped outside, and I noticed that Keira and her brothers were nowhere to be seen. I wondered if her oldest brother had been so upset with her that he hadn't given her a chance to explain. I didn't like thinking what her parents would say to her when she arrived home.

"What happened?" Emmett asked. "You get the new girl in trouble or something?" he teased.

I smirked at him. "Or something."

"Let's just go," Rosalie insisted impatiently. "I want to get back before Carlisle starts to worry."

I looked at her incredulously, wondering exactly when she'd begun to worry over Carlisle's peace of mind. I slid into the back seat without saying anything, but Emmett wasn't finished with his teasing.

"Seriously, what'd you do?"

I bowed my head. "We were caught passing a note in class," I told him, and his smile widened to cover most of his face. "It was about our science project, before you can think anything else would be going on between us."

He shrugged. "Don't mind me," he grinned, wondering silently what kind of notes we could've been so involved in for the teacher to catch us.

"Please stop," I begged. "Honestly. When will it be appropriate for you to mind what you're thinking around me?"

He laughed. "When you stop behaving yourself," he taunted.

I didn't understand how that would accomplish my goal.

* * *

**Well, if you're all the way down here, then I hope that means you're liking what you're seeing, and I hope you'll tell what you think. So far, I haven't had a lot of people telling me what's on their minds, but I still have hope that someone will take that step.**

**Until next time, which I hope won't be too long, Keep Reading!  
**


	6. Curiosity & Fascination 2

**This seems to be my weekend for updates! Make this update number 2, and if you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, click on over to my profile and check out my other Twilight story.**

**We're still in Keira's perspective here, but a little bit of time goes by in this chapter, so if there's any confusion, just let me know.**

**I forgot this before, but I don't own Twilight, obviously, or else I wouldn't be writing fan-fiction.**

**If you're all still reading, don't let me hold you back. Read on!**

* * *

_**Curiosity & Fascination**_

_**October, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

_I've never been given detention in all my life! _I thought as I walked out of school toward the parking lot where I was sure Kyle and Fisher were waiting for me. _What was I thinking not paying attention? God, I'll never hear the end of this. I'm so stupid._

I was so mortified!

What was wrong with me?

How could I have allowed myself to be so distracted? I'd never been more embarrassed in my entire life, and it was all because of a boy! Edward was a nice-looking boy, but still, I was supposed to be learning in school, not becoming involved in a boy at school. My mother and father were going to be horrible to me when I got home.

Fisher and Kyle were where I expected them to be, but across the lot, I could see Emmett and Rosalie waiting with impatient looks on their faces. I didn't say anything as I moved to the car, and Kyle didn't say anything as he opened the back door for me. He barely gave me time to get into the car, slamming the door and then sliding into the driver's seat as Fisher followed him. I didn't want to look at either of them, and I didn't want either of them to look at me. If they didn't look at me, I didn't have to admit that I'd gotten into trouble because I'd been caught passing a note in class to Edward.

It only took a few minutes to get to the house, and when we pulled up, I could already see my mother on the front porch. I didn't want to say anything to her, but then Kyle opened my door and I had to get out of the car.

"Where have you been?" my mother demanded as Fisher came around to my side to walk me to where she was standing.

Though I had hoped to explain it to her myself, Kyle opened his mouth before I could.

"Keira got kept after school by one of her teachers," he quipped, glancing at me and eliciting a glare from Fisher. "I think she got in trouble," he mused.

I blushed, bowing my head even as Fisher walked me closer to her.

My mother gazed at me as I stepped in front of her, but I didn't know what to say to her, clutching my books to my chest.

"Keira," she said. "What happened?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "I was talking to Edward about our science project, and Mr. Jennings caught us. I didn't mean to. But Mr. Jennings gave us detention for the next three days."

She looked at Fisher, and I could see the disappointment in her eyes. Then she looked at me. "Get inside. And get your homework done before dinner."

I didn't say anything else to her, hurrying inside to my room and never wanting to leave again.

It wasn't that difficult to do my homework since it wasn't that much to do, and I was finished with most of it before my father was home. I looked through one of my journals the rest of the time, thinking about my grandmother and wondering what she would say if she knew what I was going through right now. I realized I needed so much to talk to her now, and I couldn't talk to anyone else about this — not even my mother. It was frustrating to have to wonder and not know.

My door opened at five-thirty, and my father stepped through with a small announcement.

"I heard you got into a little trouble at school today," he said, moving toward me and then sitting on the end of my bed to face me. I bowed my head. "Would you mind explaining to me how you got detention with this boy?"

I inhaled deeply, lifting my eyes to his. "It was just something stupid," I insisted.

He leaned closer. "You can do better than that," he pressed.

I swallowed carefully. "We were passing a note in class," I admitted. "About our science project. It was stupid and unnecessary. I shouldn't have done it. I don't know why I did it. But the teacher caught us. And he gave us detention for the next three days."

He listened for a minute, appearing to process what I was telling him, and I thought he was just going to get up and leave. Then he looked at me again.

"Was this boy responsible for getting you into trouble?" he asked seriously.

I sat up instantly. "No," I promised. "I could've not done it, but I did. It was my fault too. I mean, it's never happened before, I realize. But I'll take the consequences. It's only three days."

He leaned away, sitting up with his hands in front of him. "And I take it this detention is going to be served in the same classroom as . . . Edward."

I blushed again at the sound of his name. "I suppose so."

"And you'll be home every day afterward, with your homework done," he stipulated.

I nodded. "I will. I promise."

He stood up then, looking around the room and then leaving quietly. I didn't know what was worse. Having detention for three days with Edward, or watching my parents look at me with four different degrees of disappointment in their eyes.

Kyle was insufferable through dinner, making snide remarks about my impending detention and wondering how I was going to get home because he wasn't going to be waiting for me to get out of detention. Fisher tried to change the subject several times, talking about the basketball team holding trials and one of his teachers assigning a particularly difficult assignment. But my mother didn't say anything at all. She didn't look at me. She barely ate. My father tried to listen to Fisher and keep an eye on me, but he didn't do a very good job of paying attention to anything but me. Halfway through dinner, I'd had enough.

"May I be excused please?" I attempted not to demand looking at my father.

He looked at my mother, but she didn't say anything, and he looked at me. "Go on," he allowed, and I stood up without say anything to anyone as I hurried back upstairs to my room.

As soon as I was inside my room, I closed the door and looked around my room, sitting on my bed and wondering what I was going to do when I had to go to school in the morning. I didn't want to go even though I knew I couldn't convince my mother to let me stay home. I actually didn't know what I was going to say to her the next morning when I saw her again. She wouldn't even look at me.

I didn't leave my room the rest of the night except to take a bath, and I was in bed nearly an hour earlier than I normally did. Someone stepped into my room not long after I climbed into bed, but whoever it was never said anything to me. I thought it was my mother, but I didn't move, staying under my blanket and trying not to think about what was going to happen over the next three days.

* * *

If being in detention wasn't bad enough, I had to sit in a classroom with Edward for three days in a row with just him, me and Mr. Jennings. I couldn't look my mother in the eye for three whole days. My father checked on me every afternoon for three days. And Kyle was completely impossible for three days. It was mortifying to watch everyone else get up and leave while I had to sit there and wait. And what seemed to solidify my mortification was the fact that for three days, I didn't want to even look at Edward. It wasn't entirely his fault this had happened to either of us, but I was afraid that if I even thought about giving in to the fact that there were so many things we needed to do, our punishment would be even worse than it already was. If that was possible.

Fisher was the only one I could really talk to about all this without feeling like I was kneeling inside a confessional every time it was brought up. My father made a point of asking me at dinner every night what Mr. Jennings was having me do while I was in detention, and I tried to think up some plausible activity like grading papers or something. Fisher was really the only one who knew all I did while I was in there was sit and keep my head down. I'd told him that Mr. Jennings had apparently wanted Edward and I to have plenty of time to do our Science Project, but all we ended up doing was sitting at the back of the class waiting for him to let us leave.

Thursday afternoon, Mr. Jennings had actually looked a little sympathetic and allowed us to leave after half an hour. It was then that Edward spoke to me for the first time in three days.

"I wanted to apologize again for all of this," he told me as we left the school through the side entrance to the parking lot. "I should've been much more discreet. I'll understand completely if you wish to have another partner for the science project. I know we haven't had the opportunity to really start being here the last three days. I can talk to Mr. Fillmore if you'd like."

I listened to him start to almost grovel, and I spoke up. "No, it's all right," I insisted. "I'm to blame just as much as you are. And I don't want another partner. If we do that now, then it'll be like we're saying Mr. Jennings was right to keep us after school the last three days. And we have already started."

"Are you certain that's what you want?" he asked, and I looked at him. His eyes were bright green today, with more light in them than before, and the circles under his eyes were almost completely gone.

"I'm sure," I promised him.

A small, almost immeasurable grin tugged at the left corner of his mouth, and he opened the door to the parking lot. Kyle and Fisher were still waiting by the car, and Emmett and Rosalie were on the other side of the lot.

"So shall we start over then?" he inquired softly. "Tomorrow after school?"

I inhaled deeply, feeling a smile ease across my face. "That sounds good. Tomorrow after school. The library?"

"I actually already have a selection of books I was able to find in Carlisle's library for us to look through," he revealed. I looked at him, and I was surprised to see him really smiling now. "He's my brother-in-law," he explained "And I was hoping we would be able to move passed this. I wanted to make it up to you. I know how important this project is for you. So we can bypass the library for either your house or my house."

We arrived at the car where Kyle and Fisher were waiting, and I glanced at my older brothers before I looked across the parking lot at Emmett and Rosalie. I looked at Edward again. "Will it be a problem if we go to my house?" I asked. "My mother's still being a little . . ."

I couldn't finish the sentence, and he bowed his head. "Of course," he said. "We'll talk tomorrow at lunch then."

I nodded. "Okay."

He looked at Fisher and then Kyle before he moved across the parking lot to Emmett and Rosalie. I moved to the car and got in without saying anything, and my brothers followed me before Kyle backed out of his spot to leave the lot.

"So, you're finished right?" Fisher asked.

"Yes," I said. "I'm finished with detention. But I still have to do my science project. So Edward will be coming to the house tomorrow. I would appreciate a little privacy, if that's at all possible."

Fisher didn't say anything, but Kyle allowed this especially devious smile cross his face, and I knew this wasn't going to be as easy as I'd initially hoped.

* * *

The next day, Friday, couldn't have started out more normal, or as normal as it could be since it was colder than it had been and started raining before second period. Edward was a gentleman all morning, opening a door for me if it was closed and walking with me and Fisher to our classes. I could tell Fisher liked him and didn't blame him for the detention. I hoped my mother and father saw it that way. Edward really was a nice boy, and it was obvious he felt badly about the whole thing.

At lunch, as promised, we talked about our project, and I asked him about the books from his brother-in-law's library. I was just amazed his brother-in-law had a library.

"Is it a very big library?" I asked, making an outline for our project.

"It might be as big as the library here it town," he mused. "Carlisle's been collecting books his whole life, and he inherited quite a lot from his father and grandfather. There's practically everything in there. I'll show you when we go to my house, unless you'd prefer to continue to work like this and at your house."

I blushed at the thought of being alone in his brother-in-law's library with him. "No, I would love see it."

"Excellent," he agreed, a natural smile crossing his face. "And I'll ask your parents to make for certain it's all right. Emmett can always take you home."

"Keira," Abigail said now standing at the table with her lunch. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she pleaded.

"Please," I insisted.

"Thank you," she breathed, sitting down quickly. "Ethan won't leave me alone, and Jennifer keeps trying to shove me into his lap."

"Then you'll sit with us from now on," Edward offered, looking off in Ethan's direction, and I could've sworn I saw him glare.

"That's not necessary," Abigail stated. "I can sit somewhere else tomorrow, and — "

"Nonsense," Edward stopped her. "It's not proper for a boy to ignore a girl's request. You'll sit here with us where you'll be safe."

The curious expression on Abigail's face was enough to show how grateful she was. "Thank you."

"And I'm sure we can ask Fisher to sit with us too," I added. "I think he likes you."

Abigail glanced over her shoulder, spotting my brother, and I watched him smile and nod before Abigail looked at me. "I couldn't ask him to do that. He has his own friends."

"Oh, I didn't say I'd ask. He's meant to follow my every command. I'll just tell him he has to sit with me from now on. Consider it done."

She blushed as her cheeks turned a darker shade, and I smiled, glancing at Edward to see him smiling again.

After lunch, Edward offered to walk Abigail to her next class since it was different from ours, and once she was safely inside her own Science class, he spoke to me on the way to French.

"That was a very brave move," he commented. "Offering to force your brother to sit with you at lunch despite the fact that he's a year older than you."

"I wasn't lying," I admitted. "Fisher usually does do everything I ask. He always has. Besides, that was a bold move on your part. Offering Abby a seat at the table with you when you've barely given any of the other girls the time of day."

He smiled again. "Well, I _was_ defending her honor."

"And what about mine?" I teased.

He chuckled. "_That_ will always be safe with me. It's a promise."

Even though he sounded serious, I couldn't help but laugh too. What a strange thing to say.

It had stopped raining by the time school ended even though it was still cloudy, and Edward insisted on riding to my house with me instead of his brother dropping him off. When I asked him how he would get home, he said Emmett and Rosalie would be coming into town later, and they would pick him up then. He had a satchel of books in the backseat of Emmett's car, and he retrieved those before following me to where Kyle and Fisher were waiting. While I'd hoped to do this as quietly as possible, Kyle took it up on himself to size Edward up in front of the whole school.

"So you're the juvenile delinquent who got my sister in detention," he assessed, staring down his nose at Edward despite them being the same height.

Edward didn't blink. "That would be me, I suppose."

"And you honestly think I'm going to leave you alone with her just because you've apologized?"

"Kyle, that's unnecessary," Fisher argued. "He said it was a misunderstanding. Just let it go."

"Please," I added.

He stood still a minute, looking at me and then Fisher before he moved to get into the driver's seat. "Whatever," he muttered.

I inhaled as deeply as I could, glancing at Fisher and silently thanking him before Edward opened the door for me. I scooted into the back seat, and he followed, closing the door as Kyle turned the engine on and proceeded to pull out of our parking spot.

The drive to the house was quiet, and I glanced at Edward, noticing how he was staring at the back of Kyle's head almost like he wanted to bore a hole into it. Somehow I could relate to that, and it was nice to have one more person to agree with me that Kyle's behavior was starting to get out of hand. Sure, sometimes, he actually had a conscience and tried to fill in when my father and Fisher argued. But other times, he was completely intolerable. It was confusing to know whether he was still grieving, or if he was just bring mean.

My mother was waiting on the porch in a thick cardigan, and when she saw Edward help me out of the back of the car, the restrained look on her face turned intrigued. I figured she hadn't expected Edward to come to the house, and she looked curious. Kyle bypassed her completely, entering the house without a word, and Fisher led the way to the porch where our mother was waiting as Edward walked beside me.

"How was your day?" she asked, looking at Fisher and glancing at me.

"It was good," he promised. "I"ve got to get ready to go."

"Not too late," she told him, allowing him to go inside before she turned to me. "Honey, how was your day?"

"Better," I nodded, looking at Edward. "Mom, this is — "

"Edward," she said, extending her hand to take his. "You must be the science project partner."

He took her hand in his, and even though she shivered a little, she smiled. "Yes, ma'am. I wanted to take this opportunity to apologize for causing Keira to get into trouble. It was partially my fault as well, and I promise not to let it happen again. It was my haste that was the culprit, but I'll be keeping that in check from now on."

"Well, that's very kind of you. And I'm Annabeth. Keira's mother. Please come in. Walter will be home at five-thirty."

She stepped aside, allowing us onto the porch, and Edward gestured for me to go first. He held the door for my mother and me, and once we were in the foyer, my mother gestured to the parlor as it set empty.

"You should be able to work in here," she offered. "I'll leave the doors cracked in case you need anything. Edward, would you like something to eat or drink?"

"No, thank you, ma'am, I'm fine."

"Please call me Annabeth."

"Thank you," he nodded.

She smiled, glancing at me and then moving back into the dining room where I guessed she was working on something for the kitchen.

I glanced around the parlor, noticing the drapes open to let in a little light, and I sat on the couch to lay my books over the table there. Edward sat down with me, pulling out the books he'd mentioned and allowing me to look at them as he went through what we'd done so far even if it wasn't much.

The first book I picked up looked practically brand new, and I wondered how Edward's brother-in-law could've collected it. The front cover was a picture of London, England, and the letters were embossed heavily into the binding. It had to be an expensive book, however old it was, but what shocked me most was exactly how old it was. I looked over the inside cover and discovered it to be printed in 1889.

"When did your brother-in-law come by this book?" I asked Edward. "It looks brand new."

"Oh, my sister's somewhat of a restorer of things," he explained quite smoothly. "And Carlisle's also gotten extremely good at storing the books in a warm room. You know that keeps the paper from turning brittle."

"I can see that. So," I said, setting the book down. "Where do you want to start?"

"Well, the way I see it," he began, laying out the several sheets of paper we'd already been able to generate over lunch, "we can do a paper project or a practical one — where we go out into the local wilderness and actually get a look at the subject of our project. I know you've probably lived here in Washington all your life, but this place is new to me, so I would very much like to do a practical project and learn about the land that way."

A gentle set of chills shook down my spine as I listened to him talk. It just wasn't normal for him to sound that way. I was sure of it. And what was odd about it was that his brother and sister, whom I'd actually only heard a few times, had the same tenor in their voices. Though Emmett was thick and burly, he was gentle and supportive, and even though Rosalie was a little brisk and annoyed half the time, she was still beautiful and behaved like she was well aware of it. It was so odd that they were family. I remembered my father had said Emmett and Rosalie were adopted, but still. They acted like they'd been together forever. I still hadn't met Edward's sister or her husband, but I had this strange feeling they would have this effect on me too. And it was clear he'd been able to charm my mother instantly. He was obviously used to it.

"A practical project sounds nice," I said softly, but he still heard me.

He smiled again, appearing to have made it a habit by now. "Then you'll definitely need to see Carlisle's library. He'll have everything we need, and I live outside town, so we could perhaps take samples of the area around my house for Mr. Fillmore. He won't be expecting that."

"Then that's what we'll do," I agreed.

And then he laughed, nodding and still spreading out papers over the table in front of us.

My father arrived home promptly at five-thirty while Edward and I were still sitting in the parlor with our papers. In two hours, we'd actually been able to find a lot of information about the area from his books and our textbooks. We'd also worked out a schedule to go on a few "field" trips as he liked to call them to so we could collect samples from the woods around town for a visual of what we planned to turn in for our project. I knew it would be getting colder before the end of the month, and I told him it would be important for us to get most of our samples before the first snow. He agreed with me even though it didn't seem very important to him that we collect our samples right away.

The doors to the parlor opened wider then, and I looked up to see my father there in his jacket and tie from work with a stern look on his face. Edward stood up immediately, and I sighed heavily, rising with him as my father spoke.

"Annabeth tells me you two are working on your science project," he said, eyeing me and then looking at Edward.

"That's right, sir," Edward nodded. He moved forward. "I'm Edward, sir," he said, extending his hand. "Edward Masen. Please allow me to apologize for what happened earlier this week. It was partially my fault it happened, and I still believe the punishment was quite severe."

My father stared at him a few seconds with his hands high on his waist. "Well, nonetheless, it happened."

Edward bowed his head. "Yes, sir. And again, I apologize."

I watched my father ponder Edward's behavior and the fact that he'd been alone in the parlor with me the last couple of hours, and I was afraid he wouldn't accept Edward's apology. My father wasn't one to hold a grudge, but sometimes, it took him a while to accept a situation for what it was. The truth was that I would have to work with Edward on our science project for the next two and a half months, and if I had to get used to it, then so did my family. It would be extremely embarrassing if _both_ my parents didn't at least try to be okay with this for the time being.

"So, how are things going in here?" my father asked, still scrutinizing Edward with his eyes.

"We're actually almost finished for the day," I said, moving to Edward's side while holding our trip schedule. "We're going to go out to Edward's house tomorrow to look for samples for our project."

"I see," my father nodded. He paused, looking behind him and then half turning to the entrance of the room. "Edward, do you need a ride home?" he asked, and almost on cue, a heavy knock came at the door.

My mother answered the door then, calling out to Edward after a couple of seconds. "Edward, your brother is here for you."

I sighed deeply, and Edward grinned slightly. "I supposed I should be leaving," he said, turning to me. "Would it be all right if I left our material here for in the morning?"

I glanced at my father then, seeing that he'd moved into the foyer where my mother was standing with Emmett as he wore a dark tweed jacket and pants. "That would be just fine," I told Edward.

He bowed his head and moved to collect his satchel, and I followed him to the foyer where my parents were waiting. Emmett smiled at me, and I blushed unconsciously, folding my arms over my chest. I'd since put on one of the grandmother's sweaters, and even though it kept my warm, I still shivered when Edward looked at me.

"Emmett's probably taking Rosalie to the drive-in restaurant before we get on our way home," Edward said with a grin, "but I should be back bright and early. Eight o'clock?"

"I'll be ready," I agreed.

"Oh, honey, you should go with Edward," my mother chimed in. "Fisher's probably already there."

"Annabeth, I think our daughter's had enough excitement for one week," my father argued. "If they're going to be out all day tomorrow, then she'll need all of her rest. Besides, I — "

"Walter, he's a nice boy," she informed him. "He's apologized for doing anything wrong, and Fisher's going to be there. He'll bring her home."

My father sighed softly, looking at me. "Are you okay?" he asked me. "I mean, you haven't had a rough day, have you?"

"Actually, I had a nice day," I insisted.

He rolled his eyes, something he only did when me and my mother worked against him over anything. "Then I suppose it would all right for you to go," he conceded.

Despite the fact that I hadn't initially wanted to go out, I stepped closer to him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, kissing his cheek and squeezing him tightly. "Thank you, daddy," I whispered. I stepped back and glanced at Edward. "Let me just go change."

"Change?" Emmett argued. "You look great. Let's go." He looked at my mother. "It was nice to meet you, ma'am."

"You too, and please, call me Annabeth," she insisted.

I stepped closer to Edward, and Emmett graciously took my hand before we all left slowly.

It was windy and a little damp when we stepped outside, and I held the sweater I was wearing tighter around me as I walked toward Emmett's car. Rosalie was already in the front seat, dressed in a stylish dress with her hair done up in an elegant twist. My own hair was still pulled back from how I'd fixed it that morning for school, and I immediately felt completely inadequate.

Edward opened the back passenger door for me, walking around to the other side to slide in, and Emmett pulled out of the driveway with a big smile on his face. A few times while we were on our way, Edward sighed softly or groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was fighting a headache. Rosalie glanced at me a few times, but she didn't say hello or anything. I tried not to notice. I didn't even know what I was doing here, and I wondered silently if an opportunity like this would come up again. I knew we would be working on our project until Winter Break, but would I really be spending time with his family like this?

I wasn't surprised at all to find Fisher at the drive-in with Abigail and a few other kids from school, especially after the day we'd all had. I knew Fisher liked Abigail even though he was older than she was, and I knew he'd probably come here with his own friends instead of having me drag him to the drive-in theater with Abigail the week before. I hoped it continued to be an ongoing thing, especially since being around Abigail helped Fisher think of things other than what he'd left behind. He gave her something to look forward to, and I liked seeing him that way.

We all stood between our cars and talked until it was well passed my bedtime even though I tried not to make it seem like I still had one of those. I ordered a coke, and Abigail and I shared it while Fisher and Emmett talked about their gym teacher. I noticed that Edward and Rosalie never really talked, even though he continued to sigh and groan, and I really hoped he wasn't feeling bad. He always seemed to have a perpetual headache, and I didn't want him to overwork himself for my benefit. By ten o'clock, he'd already promised me several times that he was all right and would still pick me up on time. I held him to that before I got into the car with Fisher and Abigail so we could all leave before it got too late.

The next morning, as promised, Edward knocked on my front door at eight o'clock wearing clothes fit for hiking in the woods, and I was dressed similarly with some of my grandmother's old gardening clothes. My mother made me wear a hat, and she packed me lunch before allowing us to leave in the car with Emmett since we would be driving to their house before setting out on our hike. I admitted to myself on the way out of town that I was a little excited to see the inside of Edward's house, especially the library his brother-in-law had.

* * *

For three weeks, Edward and I worked together on our science project like it was virtually the only thing we had to do for school. Most of the rest of our classes were easy to keep up with since I managed to get help from Fisher for just about everything else. Mr. Jennings gave us a new book report to do about mid-1800s English poetry, and I was forced to ask Kyle for assistance since it had been one of his best subjects in school in Seattle. He agreed to help me only if I stopped bringing Edward into the house, so we had to work on the porch.

I met Carlisle and Esme, Edward's sister and her husband, on my first visit to his house, and while I was a little nervous, they promised me I had nothing to worry about and that I was welcome there any time. Carlisle was incredibly good-looking, with light blond hair and bright blue eyes. He was extremely gentle and considerate. I could see that he and Edward were quite close, more like father and son instead of brothers-in-law. Carlisle showed me his library, and I discovered that it went up through all three floors of the house. There were literally thousands of books there, and I was immediately overwhelmed as I stood inside it.

Esme was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever met, with caramel colored hair and light brown eyes the color of creamed coffee. Her hair was wavy with soft billows that felt just passed her shoulders, and her smile was more friendly and loving than any smile I'd ever seen from anyone but my mother. She offered me tea and cake, which I found odd since neither Edward nor Emmett or Rosalie ever ate at school. It made me feel like she was doing it just for me. It made me feel kind of special.

Edward and I took a hike into the woods around his house every Saturday, and then every Tuesday, I would go to his house with him to set out all our samples to keep them catalogued. Carlisle accommodated us with space on the porch, and Esme kept up with how long we sat on the porch so I could get home before it was dark. Edward and Emmett always rode into town with me, and Edward walked me to my porch and inside the house to make sure I was inside and on time for dinner. It was flattering how much he wanted to keep me safe, and he impressed my parents every time he walked me inside and made sure I was home before six o'clock.

Emmett and Rosalie hardly ever interrupted us when we were working over our samples, although there were a few times when Rosalie would watch us through the doors on the porch that led into the parlor.

"Rosalie doesn't like me very much," I said to Edward on our fourth Saturday afternoon at his house three weeks after we started while we were going through our new samples which included rocks, wood and earth from the woods around his house. "I keep thinking I'm supposed to be wearing a mask around her or something."

"You shouldn't pay attention to Rosalie," he told me, looking over the list of samples we already had. "It's not up to her if you're here or not. And if Carlisle tells her you're going to be here, she'll just accept it."

I glanced behind me at the parlor doors, seeing her there again and then glancing at Edward to see him not paying attention before I looked back and discovered her gone. I sat back on my calves, looking at everything we'd collected so far and wondering how we were going to put all of it into a report to our teacher. There looked to be almost too much to pull together.

"You look overwhelmed," Edward said from across the span of samples on the porch. "Surely, you're not having second thoughts."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Just wondering how we're going to get all of it together."

"That's easy," he said, picking up one of our samples and moving around to my side. "Look at this," he said, showing me the rust-colored clay we'd laid on a sheet of paper. "This clay is used by the local Native American Indian tribe for rain dance ceremonies. They sometimes also use it for tribal meetings with other tribes in the area."

I smiled as he rubbed his finger in the clay and came at me with it. I backed away, almost missing him dabbing it on my cheek, and he laughed before realizing how close we were. His smile faded almost completely, and his eyes became heavy-lidded. He opened his mouth to speak just as the door opened to allow Emmett onto the porch.

"It's almost five-thirty," he announced. "You two ready to get going?"

Edward glanced at him, looking at me and then helping me to my feet so we could follow Emmett into the house.

"Do you have something on your face?" Emmett asked, and I immediately tried to wipe off the clay on my cheek.

"Is it almost five-thirty?" Carlisle asked, now standing in the foyer as we arrived there to get my coat.

"We'll be back," Emmett promised.

"Well, Keira," Carlisle said moving forward to take my hand. "It was lovely to have you here today. We'll have everything ready for you when you come back."

I blushed easily, bowing my head as Edward helped me with my coat. "All right. Thank you."

Emmett led the way out to the car then, and Edward opened the passenger door for me so I could slide in between him and Emmett. The ride home was quiet as I sat between them, and about halfway into town, Edward reached out and touched my face where the clay he'd dabbed onto my cheek was smeared. I looked at him, and he moved his hand away. Emmett snickered softly, and Edward bowed his head, shaking it slightly.

My porch light was on when Emmett pulled up into my driveway, and Edward got out to walk me inside.

"We got a lot done today," I said as we walked. "We'll have a lot to do on Tuesday."

"About that," he said. "My family and I are going camping with the weather clearing up, so we'll have to do our cataloguing later in the week."

"Camping," I repeated, easing up the steps to the porch. "In the middle of the week?"

"Carlisle talked to the principal, and the teachers will keep up with our work for when we get back."

"Where are you going camping?"

"Near Olympic National Park. We'll be back on Thursday," he assured me.

He opened the front door then, allowing me inside as he followed, and my mother came out of the dining room slowly.

"Oh, hello, Edward," she said with a wide smile.

"Good evening, Annabeth," he nodded, and she blushed. He looked at me. "I'll see you Thursday."

I nodded. "Okay."

He left quietly, and my mother stepped closer to me.

"Thursday?" she asked. "Is he not going to see you at school?"

"He said they're all going camping. It'll be strange for him to not be there, but it's normal, I guess. He said his brother-in-law talked to the principal, so I guess I'll see him Thursday. I'm going to go clean up."

She released me then, and I hurried up to the bathroom to clean my face and hands so I could change clothes for dinner. I was tired and ready for bed, and I was surprised that I wasn't really that hungry. But I figured I'd eat enough to make my mother happy before I turned in for the night. When I got to the bathroom to pull off the overalls I'd worn, I looked in the mirror to take my hair down, and I was surprised to see how dirty my face was. Edward hadn't said anything about how incredibly messy I'd looked.

I made it to dinner with Fisher and Kyle, and I tried to eat while listening to everyone talk about what they'd done all day since they all knew what I'd done all day. But about halfway through dinner, Kyle spoke up, causing me to look at him.

"Are we boring you with our mundaneness, Keira?" he asked. "You seem awfully distracted."

"Honey, are you okay?" my mother asked.

I looked at Fisher and then my father. "I'm sorry," I said softly. "I'm just really tired. And I'm not really hungry."

"Well, then, sweetheart, if you're tired, why don't you just go on up to bed," my father suggested. "You've probably had a productive day."

"Okay," I agreed, scooting back from the table and then slowly walking up to my room.

I laid in my bed almost as soon as I was inside the silent space of my room, and I was asleep within seconds, thinking about what Edward had said and wondering how Carlisle had managed to get all three of them out of school for camping. My parents certainly would've never tried to do that for any of us, no matter how great the weather was going to be. But it was getting cold, and I supposed they wanted to go on one last camping trip before it got any colder.

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**Things will start moving in a different direction over the next few chapters. And you'll see what I mean if you read it.**

**Until then, I hope you all liked this one, for those of you still reading, and if there's anything you want to know, don't hesitate to leave me a message or a review.**

**One chapter put to bed, another one on the way!**

**Good night!  
**


	7. Lions & Bears

**It's getting to be about that time where I post on two or three of my stories, and this is the first one I got to when that time came! I know not a lot of people have read this particular story, but what can I say, I can always hope, can't I?**

**Things are moving along nicely in this story, and I must say I'm enjoying writing this one as much as any other before it. Whoever reads this, I really hope you like it, and I hope you tell me what you think.**

**But enough of me!**

**See you down below!  
**

* * *

_**Lions & Bears**_

_**October, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

When I went back to school on Monday, it took barely a minute to remember that Edward wasn't going to be there. And I was perplexed by how strange it felt to be at school without him. My first reminder came when I got to Advanced Mathematics and had to sit at the back of the class under the watchful eyes of Mr. Clarence, who kept his attention on me even though he never said a word to me. I wasn't sure if he expected me to participate in class or not, but when he called on the boy in front of me, I could tell he'd wanted to ask me but was strangely afraid to even speak to me.

Abigail sat with me at lunch, and we tried avoid noticing how all the boys nearby kept staring at us like we were supposed to be doing something else other than eating now that we were left alone to our own devices without our "guard." Ethan watched us from across the cafeteria, and it looked like he was wanting to approach us, but then Fisher stood up from the table he'd settled at with his friends to come sit with us.

"You two look like you're enjoying yourselves," he said with a small smile.

Abigail blushed, and I laughed softly. "It looks like everyone is trying not to stare at us," I commented. "Even Ethan looks like he wanted to come over here before you."

Fisher glanced over his shoulder at Ethan, his smile fading slightly before he looked at us again. "Well, then it's a good thing I came over here," he decided. "Keira, you're not seriously worried about Edward, are you?" he asked.

I bowed my head over my food, sipping on my milk and thinking of how odd it was for anyone to go camping during school. "It's just not what I expected," I admitted. "And I can't understand it. It doesn't make sense."

"Well, they'll be back on Thursday, and then we'll all get back to normal. How about I walk both of you to your classes after lunch?"

I glanced at Abigail, wondering how much she was enjoying Fisher sitting with us, and I amended his offer. "You should walk Abigail to her class," I told him. "I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, even though he also glanced at Abigail.

"Absolutely. I'm okay, really. My morning's actually been pretty boring."

Fisher grinned at Abigail, and then she did too. I smiled at them, continuing to eat my food and quietly pondering exactly what Edward could be doing camping on a Monday.

The whole thing had me confused. Carlisle and Esme didn't seem like the type of people who didn't want Edward or Emmett and Rosalie to be in school when they should've been, and just because it was nice outside, it still didn't make any sense for them to do it on such short notice. As far as I could remember, Edward hadn't even mentioned it until Saturday when he'd told me. The very next day, it had been sunny and the temperature had even climbed into the upper fifties. It was nice outside today too, and my dad was saying it could be like this all week, which was rare for this area.

French class was just as normal as any of my morning classes had been, and I took my assignments from Ms. Lockhart while doing everything in my power to avoid the boy on my right every time he tried to get my attention. It wasn't that any of the other boys weren't nice or anything, but most of them were still marveling over the fact that I was still new, despite me having been there two months. The only person other than Edward that I'd really talked to in the last few weeks was Abigail, and we only had a few classes together. So when I wasn't sitting next to her, I kept my head down. I'm not sure if I was going it on purpose, or if it was just something I felt like doing to keep people from noticing me like I'd done before. I just knew I didn't want to be the center of attention anymore, and I was going to be very glad when my newness wore off.

By the time I got to English at the end of the day, I'd done a fairly descent job of keeping my head down. I'd worked on my English paper on Sunday, and when I handed it in to Mr. Jennings, he looked at me like he expected me to be a little more involved in class than I had been the last few weeks. Even though I'd participated every day, Mr. Jennings made it seem like I'd only done so to keep from getting detention again. But he never said anything like that to me. I couldn't be sure if I was supposed to be the way I'd been while going to school in Seattle, but doing that just felt too different now. I knew I was adjusting to life here, but I didn't know if that had anything to do with Edward or not.

"I hope everyone had a nice weekend," Mr. Jennings called over the class. "I also hope you all devoted enough time to your assignments for me to tell the difference from your previous assignments last Monday. Everybody get your text books out, and get ready for your review session."

I opened my book to the chapter we'd been working on, and as he started going into the lesson for reviewing, I couldn't keep my mind from wandering as I'd been doing all day. It wasn't just that Edward and his family were going camping when they should've been in school or working that piqued my curiosity. And it wasn't just that there were days when he looked less involved in our work and then there were days when it was like all he wanted to do was work on our project. It wasn't even the fact that he seemed to gravitate toward being uncertain as the days passed, and then suddenly, he was perfectly capable of being decisive. I'd been working so closely with him the last few weeks, and I'd noticed more than just his behavior.

I'd noticed, for example, that his skin was always cold and pale. In fact, his whole family was pale, and I knew after having touched Emmett that his skin was cold too. And I'd also noticed after a week of working with him that his eyes had slowly changed from their vibrant green color to a distinctively charcoal black hue, almost like his pupil had totally overpowered the iris of his eye, and at the same time, dark circles had developed under his eyes the way they'd been when I'd seen him my first day of school.

While being at his house the last four Saturdays, I'd also noticed the behavior of his family, especially Rosalie. I hoped I was being paranoid, but I could count precisely how many times I'd seen her appear at the window to watch Edward and I catalogue our project pieces and then just as quickly disappear. And Carlisle always seemed to appear out of nowhere, even though I was sure I was just missing the fact that he might have been just a room away before he'd come into my eyesight. And they never ate anything, not at their house, not at school, or even when they happened to go out to mingle with kids from school. In fact, I couldn't remember ever seeing Edward, Emmett or Rosalie ever touch food despite always having some kind of it in front of them.

And when Edward and I had been exploring the woods near his house, I realized that he'd never gotten tired or needed to rest. I'd always been the one to request a resting period even while we'd been sitting out in the middle of the woods. He'd never been scared or worried about getting lost, guiding me through the trees and finding the strangest things that I couldn't even see despite his amazing ability to see, smell and feel everything around us. It always seemed like he had some way of knowing so much even though he was so young. I could explain the knowledge he seemed to have by saying he read all the time, but in all honesty, I'd never seen him open a book, not at school anyway.

What intrigued me the most was the way he sounded and acted, and he always had the most impeccable manners. He nearly never insulted anyone, except for the occasional time when he would seem to threaten Ethan or anyone else who behaved in a way he felt was inappropriate — when he'd deterred Ethan that day in the cafeteria, and then again when he'd insisted on Abigail sitting with us because she was having trouble getting through to Ethan when he approached her. I knew he hadn't done these things for any other reason than some deeply rooted behavior he'd developed over the course of his life. But he was only fifteen, like me. Right?

Despite having obviously expected me to participate more during class, Mr. Jennings never called on me, the same way none of the other teachers had, and it struck me as odd that they all seemed a little afraid to even ask me anything. I silently wondered exactly what their reasoning was to leave me alone, and when I stepped out of English at the end of the day to find Fisher there waiting, I was actually ready to get home.

"How was your day?" Fisher asked as we walked through school to the parking lot where Kyle was probably already waiting.

"Strangely ordinary," I admitted.

He slung his arm over my shoulder, holding me close and smiling. "Dare I say that we might have missed a certain science project partner who happened to not be in school today?" he teased.

I blushed as we walked, not really wanting to admit he was right but unable to deny the fact that I had noticed Edward's absence more than I was willing to admit. "And what if I did?" I shot back.

He smiled wider, squeezing me against him. "Nothing," he said shaking his head. "I'm just saying."

He didn't say anything else after that, pulling me through the parking lot to the car where Kyle was standing, and Fisher opened my door for me before he moved around to the passenger side silently. Kyle looked at him funny, but he didn't say anything as he slid into the driver's seat to start the car and get on our way back to the house. I looked around at the blue skies and the sun starting to set even though it was only three-fifteen. I thought about sitting on our back porch while I did my homework, and I decided to ask my mother if I could have some iced tea while I sifted through the lessons I would have to get done before dinner.

I realized something sitting in the back seat as I watched the few blocks between school and our house go by. I knew now that I'd never seen Edward actually in the sun, and I wondered silently what he would look like with the sun on his face. He was so pale that I was curious if he would still look pale, but since I'd never seen him that way, all I could do was wonder. I'd never really wondered about a boy like this before even though I'd liked other boys in Seattle. This one boy in particular, but then we'd moved away, and I hadn't seen him since. Now that Edward was in my life, even as just a friend, everyone else seemed to pale in comparison, no pun intended.

My mother carried a tray of lemon cakes and tea onto the porch, sitting with me while I did my homework and wondering aloud what was going on in my head.

"This is a nice change," she said as she sipped her tea. "We haven't done this in a long time. Is everything okay?"

I smiled over my Social Studies book. "Of course it is," I assured her. "And this is nice. We should do this again while it's still sunny."

While I was sitting on the lounge chair, she moved to my side, and when she made me look at her, I sighed softly, laying my pencil down.

"Honey, are you sure you're okay? Are you feeling all right? If you're not, you can stay home tomorrow. Maybe it would be a nice day for us to spend some time together. We haven't really had the chance since we moved here."

I listened to what she was saying, thinking it would maybe help take my mind off the fact that I was horribly distracted. "Do you mean that?" I asked, sort of pleading.

She moved her arm around me and squeezed me against her. "Of course I do, honey. I'll talk to your father when he comes in, and I'm sure he'll think it's okay. You stay out here and finish your homework. I'll go start dinner. How about a casserole? Do you feel like chicken?"

I smiled and nodded. "That sounds great."

She stood up then, moving around the lounge chair and stepping back into the house silently. I sat there and thought about what had just happened, and I wondered how easy it might have been for Edward and Emmett and Rosalie to convince Carlisle and Esme to keep them home from school to spend time together.

Was it possible they hadn't actually gone camping at all? Was it possible they were just at home?

I didn't do it intentionally at that point, but I started wondering how difficult it would be to find a way to Edward's house. I wasn't the kind of person who told on other people, but it struck me as a little insulting that he would lie about doing something he wasn't really doing, especially after the barrier we'd crossed the first few weeks we'd been in school together. Surely, he knew he could trust me. I didn't think of myself as a brown-noser, because everyone needed a break from school every now and then, but I wanted to know if I was right. So I thought about how I could get to his house without my mother worrying about me. I knew he lived a little way out of town, and I'd never gone that far by myself before. But that didn't scare me. I'm not sure what was scaring me, but I had to confirm my suspicions, and this was the only way I knew of to do it.

When I finished my homework, I sat on the porch thinking to myself about what I was going to say to my mother, and the only think I could think of was to lie to her even if I'd never done that before in my life. She'd ground me for a month when she found out, but for whatever reason I was doing this, I decided it was worth it. I wanted Edward to trust me, no matter what was going on or how he was dealing with it, and that was more important to me than my pseudo-freedom. After all my homework was finished and packed back up, I went back inside and carried my things to my room, looking in my closet and finding the clothes I usually wore to Edward's house, along with my light grey coat, pearl white hat and the red scarf my grandmother had given to me when I was thirteen. I laid these out in my room as nonchalantly as I could without my mother thinking it was odd for them to be out, and then I went down to help her with dinner.

My father still wasn't home since it was only five, and Kyle and Fisher were sitting in the front parlor going through their own homework papers while they waited for dinner. My mother smiled at me when I entered the kitchen, and I moved to her side to see what I could do for her.

"I was just about to cut up the vegetables," she said, and I offered to take over while she cleaned away the bits of chicken she wouldn't be cooking.

There were onions, celery, garlic and tomatoes, and I had all of that chopped up when my father made it home. He came into the kitchen just as we were putting everything together with a mixture of cornbread and chicken broth, and the smile on his face when he smelled what was already cooking told us he was in a good mood. I knew my mother would be able to talk to him about me staying home the next day, and that put me in an even better mood.

"Well, I hope you two beautiful ladies had a good day today," he crooned, kissing my mother's cheek and then mine.

"We both had a nice day," my mother assured him. "It sounds like you had a good day too."

He smiled. "I did have a good day," he stated happily.

My mother laughed softly, and he left the kitchen to set the table.

She was just taking the casserole out of the oven when the phone rang from the wall of the kitchen, and my father stepped into the kitchen while still holding a smile on his face to answer the phone.

"Jones Residence. This is Walter speaking. Yes." He paused, glancing at me and my mother. "Can you repeat that again please?"

The smile on his face faded, and he moved away from us while lowering his voice even though I could still hear him. "What does this have to do with me? I'm a legal advisor, not the chief of police. Well, how far outside town were they found?"

The smile on my face faded, and suddenly I was thinking about Edward and his family. I knew by the look on my father's face that something was wrong, and even though I didn't know what had happened, I knew it was serious enough for someone to be calling my father. We were in a small town in the middle of the woods, and the only thing I could think of was all the animals that resided in the woods around the town. Was it possible someone was calling my father about the animals? Or was it Edward? I was immediately concerned even though neither Edward nor any member of his family seemed the type to not be able to take care of themselves.

"All right," my father said to his caller. "Give me twenty minutes. Though I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll be there."

He hung up the phone then, looking at us even though he didn't say anything for a minute or two before my mother moved to his side.

"Walter," she said softly, "what's happened?"

"Some campers outside town were found dead," he replied just as softly. "The ranger who found them said it looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, but they need someone from the sheriff's station to be on the scene. I told them I'm just an advisor, but they can't reach the sheriff or any of the deputies, which is odd given the size of the town. I won't be long, I hope. Go on and eat. Save me a plate."

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek, glancing at me and then leaving the kitchen silently.

My heart leapt into my throat then, and I wanted to know who these campers were and how they could've been attacked by a bear. I'd never been this scared in my life, not even when my grandmother had been sick before she died.

I didn't want to eat dinner that night, taking a roll and sitting up in my room with one of my books, and my mother let me stay in my room until it was time for me to get to bed. By then, my father still hadn't come home, and even though my mother hadn't had a chance to talk to him about me staying home, she said she would still call the school in the morning. And she said that even if I wasn't going to school in the morning, I still needed a good night's sleep, so she made sure I was in bed on time even if I wasn't very tired.

I laid in bed for a long time without going to sleep, thinking and worrying and wondering and wishing I knew what was going on. I'd never really acted this way, and I was pretty sure I knew what was causing me to feel the way I felt right now. Even though I'd liked other boys, I was sure none of them were ever going to be like Edward. In fact, I knew I was never going to meet anyone like him ever again in my life, and it was for that reason that he'd made such an impression on me. His family was unlike any family I'd ever encountered, and it felt like they would always be like that even if time went by that would cause any other family to change the way they were supposed to.

I knew then that I wanted to know more about Edward's family than I already did, and I knew I would find out the next day, whether they turned out to be the campers who'd died or not. Something inside me was telling me there was no way it could be them, and my instincts never really led me astray.

I finally fell asleep after laying in bed for nearly two hours, and I had the strangest dream, about Edward and a day when we were walking through the woods around his house. I got lost even though I knew he would never let that happen, and when I found him again, he was kneeling over a dead deer. After a few seconds, he lifted his head to look at me, and even though he looked the way he always had with vibrant green eyes and pale skin, his lips were blood red as were his teeth, and as his eyes found mine, a snarl ripped through his chest and suddenly, he looked like a raging animal. I'd never seen another person look at me this way. It was like he wanted to kill me, and then without so much as a warning, he lunged toward me with a mad sneer on his face.

I opened my eyes then, seeing my room brightening from dawn and realizing I'd slept passed seven o'clock. I remembered my dream, and I suddenly wondered if my father had come home the night before. I laid in bed for a few minutes, and then my mother poked her head in my room.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said softly. "How did you sleep?"

Even with my heart racing beneath my chest, I did my best to pretend I was just fine. "I slept great."

She smiled. "Good. I'm making pancakes, so when you're ready, just come down to the kitchen, okay?"

I smiled back. "Okay."

She left, and even though I thought about laying in bed a lot longer than I normally would, I decided it was time to start my day, so I got up and carried my clothes for the day to the bathroom to take a bath. I hoped she wouldn't say anything about what I was wearing, and I hoped she wouldn't be too suspicious about me leaving the house during the day. I realized she'd done this to spend time with me, but I'd been given an opportunity I couldn't pass up, and I knew we would have plenty of time to spend together once I'd figured out this puzzle forming in my head. What was going on with Edward Masen?

I could smell pancakes, bacon and eggs on my way down stairs, and my mother and father were both sitting at the kitchen table when I stepped in.

"Come sit down, sweetie," my mother said, smiling and nodding to the chair at her side.

I glanced at my father then, but I didn't say anything to him as I sat down and reached out to start filling my plate. I noticed Kyle and Fisher already gone, and when I started eating, my father spoke to me quietly.

"You mother tells me you weren't feeling well yesterday afternoon," he said. "She said it might be a good idea for you and her to spend a little time together."

I nodded. "Yes, that's what she said. And I wasn't feeling very good."

He glanced at my mother, and she bowed her head before he spoke again. "I'm sure you're curious about what happened last night."

I looked at my mother, but she didn't look at me.

"Well," my father began, "last night, one of the rangers in the local wildlife park found a group of campers about five miles south of town. There were five of them, and they were attacked just before dawn yesterday morning. I won't go into detail, and even though there wasn't a lot I could do, I had to file all the paperwork for the coroner's report when the medical examiner showed up. I haven't had to do that in almost six months. When the guy said they looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, he'd been exaggerating. All five of the campers were mangled up pretty badly, but there wasn't any blood to speak of in the whole site. It was like their bodies had been completely drained."

I felt sick immediately, putting my fork down and lifting my hands to my face as my cheeks warmed up with blood rushing to my head. Five campers. Edward, Emmett, Rosalie, Carlisle and Esme.

My father inhaled then, again glancing at my mother before he continued. "Now, I didn't recognize any of the campers," he went on, and I lifted my head to look at him, "so they probably weren't local, but since it happened close to our town, we're going to be helping with the investigation with the county police. I know you and Edward have been going off into the woods around his house, but with this happening just yesterday, I'm going to ask the two of you to not go back out until we know for sure what caused this. Okay?"

My mind was racing over his words, and all I could do was nod even though I hadn't gotten far from him saying he hadn't recognized any of the campers. That was good, wasn't it? It meant this group wasn't the one I'd feared, even if it was a little odd since Edward had said they were going camping and the next morning, a group of campers actually end up being attacked. And what did my father mean by there being no blood in any of the campers' bodies? How was that even possible?

After breakfast, my father left to get to the station, and my mother decided it was time for us to talk about Edward, since she'd guessed that was why I was so distracted. I hadn't really had the heart to tell her it wasn't how she was thinking, but talking about it kind of helped even if it was completely embarrassing.

"I met your father in college," she told me while we sat on the porch the way we'd done the afternoon before. "I wasn't sure about him when I first met him either, but he grew on me. Just like I can see that Edward has grown on you. He's a nice boy, Keira."

I blushed over my tea, smiling with my mouth closed. "Yes," I said. "He's nice."

"And he's courteous and has the manners of a real gentleman," she added suggestively.

"Mom," I said. "I'm fifteen. And you know I want to go to college first. Edward's a friend. That's all I need right now."

"Well, I'm just saying, honey," she nudged.

"I know," I promised.

She took another sip of her tea, and I look at the yard, thinking about what time it was and wondering how long it would take me to get to Edward's house.

"Can I go for a walk?" I asked her. "Maybe some fresh air will help, and I can go back to school tomorrow."

She barely hesitated. "That sounds like a wonderful idea," she agreed. "Just make sure you're back before dark."

"I will," I promised, rising slowly and then stepping into the house.

I couldn't believe it had been so easy, but I didn't wait for her to change her mind, hurrying up to my room for my coat, hat and scarf before I went into the garage to find my bicycle. I hadn't ridden it since we'd come to Hoquiam, but I knew I couldn't walk all the way to Edward's house, so this mode of transportation would just have to do. And it would be easier to get back if I didn't have to walk. With that, I walked my bike from the house and started off in the opposite direction of the school to the north side of town toward Edward's house. I wasn't sure what I would find, but I was determined to find something. Anything.

With it being the middle of the day, the sun was nice and high, and there was very little breeze, so my coat actually kept me quite warm while I rode my bike along the two-lane road out of town. I remembered the way since I'd taken it a few times with Emmett and Edward, and I took the turn-off that would carry me toward their house before slowing down so I wouldn't get too tired since I knew it would take me a little while to get to the house. By car, Emmett could get us to his house from town in less than twenty minutes, but with me on my bike, I knew it would take much longer. But it hadn't been too long since I'd ridden my bike, so I knew how to pace myself.

By the time I arrived at Edward's house, I was still ready to rest, and I was actually very thirsty. I set my bike down on the front walkway, moving to the front steps and sitting down for a few minutes before I started looking around. One of the first things I noticed was the fact that the car Emmett drove was sitting in the driveway. I knew that only meant he wasn't driving it, but still, it piqued my interest instantly, prompting me to move in that direction until I was on the west side of the house that faced the coast. Edward and I had always gone out in the east woods, since he said it was more familiar to him, so we hadn't been out this way.

I moved around to the front of the house again, moving up to the front door and knocking lightly. I remembered how Carlisle and Esme always seemed to know I was coming before I was even there, so surely if they were home, they'd hear me knocking. But even after three or four minutes, no one answered the door. I moved away from the front door to walk around the porch that stretched around the house to the side door where we usually spread out all our samples. Today, the porch was cleaned off without even any evidence anything had ever been there, and I stepped down the steps to the yard that led out into the woods. Something like a pained cry sounded through the air, and for a reason I wasn't sure of then, I stepped off the porch to follow it into the woods even though my father had asked me not to go into the woods until they'd found out what had killed those campers, whom I was certain now weren't Edward and his family.

I found the trail Edward and I usually took into the woods, looking around for the thing that had made that noise, but for several minutes, all I could see were trees and sky. Whatever had made it must have been close, but I couldn't see any evidence that anything had been attacked or shot. I hadn't heard a struggle or even a gunshot, just a cry for help. I glanced behind me, seeing Edward's house in the distance and guessing I was a good one or two hundred feet from the porch before I kept walking through the woods toward the sound I'd heard. Now that I thought about what I'd heard, it had sounded like a deer or a horse.

I suddenly remembered my dream, and I stopped immediately, thinking of Edward's face and what he'd been doing when I'd seen him. He'd looked so crazed, so out of control, and my appearance had only made it worse. It struck me as odd that I would see him like that in a dream when every time I'd ever seen him at school or my house or his house, he'd been such a gentleman with total control of himself in the way he moved and the way he reacted to me. I couldn't ever imagine him reacting that way toward me. Or anyone for that matter. My overactive imagination was really getting the better of me, especially if I was having dreams like that about someone.

Another few dozen feet passed me by, and I kept my eyes on everything, walking slowly and looking for anything that might appear to be a wounded animal. It wasn't that I thought I could do anything to help, but if it _was_ a person, I couldn't just leave them out here. I thought I heard someone walking in the distance, and I moved toward that unconsciously. Maybe there was someone out here, and they would know what that sound was. It was possible the way this was going, they might actually be the person or thing making the noise.

It wasn't easy to get around the trees the further in I got, and I tried to keep my eyes on the trail behind me to make sure I could get back to Edward's house, but it was difficult, especially when I had to start climbing over fallen trees and large boulders that obscured the path. It was only a little at first and still easy to follow, but then I couldn't see the trail at all. I stopped as soon as that happened, turning around to go back but discovering the trail to be completely gone from my eyes. It was probably three o'clock now, and the sun was still relatively high in the sky, but the canopy had started to obscure the light. I was just about to start back when I heard another sound, but this wasn't a cry or a yelp the way an animal would sound if it were hurt. It sounded like a growl.

I stopped again, looking around and not recognizing any of the trees from any of the times when Edward and I had come out here. I realized I was lost, and I inwardly berated myself for doing something so stupid. What was I supposed to do now?

I tried to turn back west, to make it to Edward's house or at least the edge of the trees so I could find the house, but as I did, a bright glitter of sunlight shining through the trees caught my eyes. I was drawn to it slowly, thinking maybe it was a break in the trees that would lead me out of the woods, but when I stumbled onto it, it wasn't a break in the trees at all. It was a . . . a person. A big person. I was probably fifty or sixty feet from them, and they were kneeling over something. Their skin was glistening in the sunlight, throwing rays of the light off in every direction as they rose and then turned around to face me. I stood up, feeling the wind shift from behind me to blow around my face, and as it did, I watched whoever this was change their stance from one of relaxation to that of preparation. Preparation to run. Toward me.

I peered over the distance straining to see this person's face, and even though it was pretty far, I didn't really need to see their face to know they were huge and muscular, more muscular than any one person could ever hope to be. And as the wind picked up again, the space between us was closed slowly, and after a minute, I could see their face. I knew who it was. But this was impossible. Even if my mind, racing as it was at the moment, could comprehend what I was seeing, it wasn't supposed to be possible.

Emmett.

He was looking at me so crazed, so hungry, like he was hunting the most sought-after animal he'd ever hunted. I realized he was looking at me and not whatever he'd been kneeling over, and I tried to see what it had been. But it was so far away and almost completely obscured by the foliage that I had no chance of knowing what it had been. But it suddenly didn't matter. And I knew whatever it was, it was dead. Because Emmett had killed it. And now he was looking at me like he wanted to kill me. So I did the only thing my instincts were screaming at me to do.

I ran.

* * *

**Now who in the world could've predicted this? And where is Edward? **

**Oh, okay, I knew this was going to happen, and I know where Edward is. But do you?**

**I'll leave you to that, and I'll see you next time!**

**Thanks for reading, and to all my reviewers. All four of them. ;-)  
**


	8. Lions & Bears 2

**Not a lot to say here other than to anyone who's reading, I'm hoping you're liking what you're reading. We're getting really close to the big reveal here, even though Edward pretty much lays it all down right here.**

**Thanks to everyone for reading.**

**Read on!  
**

* * *

_**Lions & Bears**_

_**October, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

I knew when Emmett decided to take down that deer on our way back from hunting over the weekend that it was a bad idea. He'd already had his fill of other animals, and Carlisle and Esme had sent us ahead while they stopped in a nearby town with Rosalie to get a few items for Keira later in the week. The last few weeks of having her in the house had been a new experience for them and Emmett, and it looked like they'd all grown accustomed to having her there even if it was only for two days a week. Esme was thinking about making a few snacks for Keira, and she planned to brew tea and squeeze some orange juice in case our guest got hungry or thirsty. It was almost like we had a pet, even though I didn't like to think of Keira that way. And she was always considerate when Esme and Carlisle engaged her in their conversations. Keira seemed to be adjusting to being around my family, and I had to admit, I was enjoying having her around. It was nice to have someone other than Emmett to talk to.

I hated leaving town to go hunting when I knew we were in the middle of gathering all our samples, but Carlisle had insisted since the weather had started clearing up Thursday night. He'd actually wanted us to stay home Friday, but I'd insisted on going to keep suspicions down so he would be able to call the school for us. And when Saturday morning had dawned cloudy and perfect, I'd still taken Emmett to pick Keira up for our day of exploring. We'd already collected a lot of samples, and I knew we had more than enough to turn in for our project, but after three weeks, I found that I liked talking to Keira while we walked. I realized she balanced out the monotony of school and gave it a healthy infusion of intrigue because every day wasn't the same anymore. And I never thought I'd find someone who did that for me, but even Carlisle could see how I was changing. I knew he was worried, but as long as she was safe, he didn't see a reason for her to stop coming to the house.

While hunting, I'd thought of several different things to tell Keira that I'd done while camping to keep her from wondering about the timing of our camping trip. I knew she would ask. She was such a curious human, and it was surprisingly refreshing even though I was constantly having to explain Rosalie's strange behavior and how Carlisle always seemed to appear in the foyer whenever we were leaving to take her home. She never actually said anything about Carlisle, but she was always thinking about it. And he was still reminding me that above anything else, our safety was most important. I didn't have the nerve to tell him it was changing for me.

Most of the way back from hunting, Emmett had tried to challenge me by trying to run faster than me or jump higher than I could. And until he'd found the deer, he hadn't succeeded, even though we'd run all the way from the park and were less than half a mile from the house when we both smelled it. Human.

I'd been feeding on animal blood most of my vampire life of nearly thirty years, and by now, I could smell human blood but not give in to its pull. In fact, after so long feeding on animals, I could detect certain scents within the blood, and I knew for sure that most if not all humans had different scents and tastes in their blood. Carlisle and Esme were the same, with Carlisle being the most controlled of us since he was the oldest. But for Rosalie and Emmett, it wasn't as easy to sense different tastes or tenors in the blood. Rosalie had never tasted human blood, and she prided herself on it, but Emmett . . . well, he'd slipped a few times.

His thoughts now told me he'd lost all interest in the deer at his feet, and since I was farther away from this smell than he was, I could see he intended to take advantage of this turn of events. I was focused completely on him, moving closer until I was less than thirty feet from him, and he suddenly shot off in the direction of the human. He was completely blinded by his thirst, and even though he knew I was behind him, he didn't stop. I knew he wouldn't feel bad about giving in this one time, but I also knew whoever he'd smelled had probably come from somewhere. I couldn't let him ruin things just because he still had trouble controlling himself at the most inopportune times.

We ran at an equal distance between each other toward this smell, and it wasn't until he was almost on top of it that I recognized this scent. Gardenia with a hint of rose. My eyes shifted from Emmett to the human, and I was more shocked than I'd ever been in my life to see her there running away from us. Her blond hair was flowing in the breeze with a few leaves stuck in it, and there were scrapes on her cheeks from running through the foliage. Her pants were dirty, and the red scarf around her neck was trailing behind her as she ran. I knew why she was running. I could see it in her thoughts. She'd seen Emmett. She'd seen what he was doing, and running had only prompted him to follow her even more than her standing still would have. And she wasn't that far away from him.

"Emmett!"

He either didn't hear me or chose to ignore me as he continued to chase after her, and I followed him as the trees and light flew passed us until they were blurs of green and yellow. I was sure I could catch him before he caught up to her, but the moment he grabbed her scarf and pulled on it only to come up empty handed as she stumbled to the ground, I knew I'd let this go on long enough.

I sped up intentionally, blowing passed him and knocking him back as I now stood between him and his prey. Dirt flew in every direction as he landed, and I stayed in position, crouching to the ground while still standing in front of her and then glancing over my shoulder at her. I heard Emmett coming closer, and I looked at him, seeing fury in his eyes and smelling venom in his mouth as he made his way toward me. He grinned, like he could beat me even if he was a little stronger than I was. He snarled, poising himself to charge again, and I growled back, grinding my teeth together a split second before he lunged for me.

I slammed into him at full speed, shoving him back and feeling him push me away before we separated and faced each other again.

"Move out of my way, brother," he warned, grinning still and clenching his fists as he prepared himself for the fight I was about to give him.

"Not happening," I swore, planting my feet over the ground and flattening my palms against his chest as he slammed into me with his shoulder.

I didn't want to hurt him, but I couldn't let him do this. Not now. Not her. Not ever again. My feet slid along the forest floor, taking grass and leaves along with them as I dug my heels into the ground to stop him and then began shoving him back until he was far enough away for me to throw into the nearest tree. Had the tree been a little thicker, he would've bounced off and fallen to the ground still ready to fight. But instead he hit the tree and knocked it down as he landed about twenty feet away as I still stood between him and her.

He came up from his fall to come at me a second time, and this time I was ready for him, grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him back again until I was on top of him.

"Not her!" I growled at him, watching the realization spark in his eyes and then pulling him to his feet. "Get to the house," I ordered. "Now."

He didn't hesitate, glancing over my shoulder at her as she remained on the ground and then shooting off in the direction of the house before he could lose control again. I stood still for several seconds with my back to her as she watched me with a dozen different thoughts running through her head simultaneously. I knew she'd watched us fight, watched the way I'd tossed Emmett around like he was a rag doll and then him come up from knocking a tree down more than twenty feet away. I knew I couldn't hide this from her, no matter what I said or did.

Slowly, I turned to face her, seeing how scared she was and watching her fear increase more as I made my way to her. I picked her scarf up off the ground, easing toward her slowly in hopes that I could keep her from running away. I was probably two or three feet in front of her as she pulled in and pushed out air in such a way that made me think she was going to pass out. With her scarf in hand, I knelt in front of her, wanting to explain but not knowing exactly how to begin. I reached for her to give her scarf back, and she backed away from me instinctively.

"I won't hurt you," I promised her. "I'm sorry you saw that. I wasn't — "

"What was that?" she demanded.

No other single question anyone had asked me had ever been so difficult for me to answer, and it wasn't one I'd ever had to answer before in all my life. No one, no human had ever seen any of us like this, not even the humans I'd killed while I'd been away from Carlisle before we'd found Rosalie. Even then I'd been careful and left nothing to be found behind, and I'd never had to explain to a human what I was or how I could do the things I did. What was I supposed to say?

I stared into her frightened eyes wondering whether she would understand. It was too far beyond human comprehension to know about our existence. Most humans avoided getting to know us, and it was an aspect of our lives we'd come to appreciate. We never had to come up with reasons for our odd behavior, and Carlisle had never given us an opportunity to think of what to say if anyone ever saw us or found out what we were. We'd always simply lied or played on the way humans were poor observers of the space around them. But I couldn't do that now that she'd seen me and Emmett fighting over her. I couldn't lie to her.

"What are you?" she pleaded, shaking and grasping onto the front of her coat like it was the only thing anchoring her to what she understood and knew.

If I could've come up with a decent excuse, I would've delved so far into my mind for it that it would've come out more plausible than any other excuse could've possibly been. She was delusional and didn't know what she'd seen. Emmett hadn't tried to kill her. He'd been trying to protect her from an animal about to attack her. She hadn't seen me fighting him to keep him from attacking her the way I knew he'd wanted to. But the more I played it over in my head, the more ridiculous it sounded. And the more I listened to myself try to explain it away, the more I knew I didn't want to lie to her.

"Everything's going to be all right," I swore to her. "I wasn't going to let him hurt you."

"And why would he want to?" she cried.

"Because . . ." I stopped, thinking of Carlisle and Esme and knowing they wouldn't approve of me exposing our secret to a human, even if it was this human whom they'd both grown to care about. I was putting her in danger just by even thinking about doing what I was thinking of doing.

"Edward, please tell me what's going on," she begged. _What was I thinking? Coming out here alone!_

I wanted to tell her. I wanted her to know the truth, but I knew what would happen if I even attempted to explain it to her. Humans weren't supposed to know about our kind, and we were supposed to stay away from them as much as possible even if Carlisle chose to live among them like we could be semi-normal. We'd never even accidently exposed our secret to any of the humans we lived near, and we'd always lived far enough away from town to keep them from seeing us in the one place where we didn't have to hide what we were. How was I supposed to anticipate something like this to happening?

I eased closer to her a little every second, still holding her scarf and then reaching for her hands as she still clutched her coat. She pulled away again, but I didn't stop, laying my hands over her arms and then gently pulling her to her feet. She stumbled away from me into a tree nearby, and I held her up on her feet.

"It's all right," I assured her.

"This is _not_ all right," she grit out through her teeth. "What are you? Tell me the truth."

"I want to tell you," I said softly. "I didn't mean for you to see this. I was supposed to be back before I saw you again. Why are you out here? It's dangerous out here for you."

"I asked you first," she pressed.

I bowed my head, trying to think of something to say that would put her at ease. I held her arms as gently as I could without hurting her, but for the longest few seconds, I could think of nothing that would make this easier. For her or me. And I knew in that moment that it was useless to lie to her about what she'd seen.

"Emmett and I were coming back when he smelled you," I conceded reluctantly. "I couldn't let him hurt you, so I had to fight him to keep him away from you."

"And why was that necessary?" she asked, whispering as she lifted her eyes to mine.

I inhaled, smelling her blood on the air and remembering the scrapes on her face. "It's getting late," I told her. "And it'll be dark soon. I will tell you. Now that you've seen this, I can't lie to you. But it isn't really mine to tell you."

"Then whose is it?"

I exhaled, looking around and knowing the house was less than half a mile away and that Carlisle and Esme were back with Rosalie. "I can only tell you my part. But the rest . . . well, Carlisle will have to tell you."

"Carlisle?" she repeated. _How is any of this possible? They were moving so fast. And Emmett knocked down a tree. They're all so cold and pale, and their eyes change colors. They never eat or drink. _

"Carlisle will answer all your questions," I promised. "He'll tell you everything. I promise you'll be safe."

I pulled her from the tree she'd settled against, taking her hand for the first time and then leading the way back to my house. I didn't want to startle her by running or even walking faster than I normally would with her. I realized how fragile her sanity was at this point, and I wanted to preserve that for as long as possible until I could sit her down with Carlisle to have him tell her everything she would need to know, to know that she was safe with me even when it seemed impossible. I'd never meant for this to happen, but I couldn't change it, and now all that mattered to me was her safety.

She was working through everything in her mind as we walked, and at this rate, I knew it would be half an hour before we made it back to the house. She was allowing me to hold onto her only to keep her from getting lost again, and I knew the moment we left the trees she would push me away again. But her heart was still racing, and her legs were barely moving as I carried her along the forest floor.

"I can get you to the house quicker if you'll allow me . . ." I stopped, and she looked at me. I wasn't sure if it was my voice or my face, but she bowed her head then, allowing me to lift her in my arms so I could move faster to get to the house sooner. She wrapped her arms around my neck, enveloping me in her scent and trusting me completely as I started off. She never looked up, and I was glad for that, as I began running once she was settled inside my arms.

I thought the whole way how bad this was, not just for her, but for me as well. I'd never been this close to a human in more than ten years, and even then, I'd been hunting and killing every bad person I could find in an effort to rid myself of the overwhelmingly horrible feeling I'd had at the point in my life. And none of those people had ever seen me coming. I had never wanted a human to trust me before now, but holding her in my arms as I ran was putting me in a state of mind where I was definitely wanting her to trust me.

In the few minutes it took me to get from there to the edge of the wood, I started thinking of what I would say to Carlisle to convince him that this could prove to be better than it appeared. I thought of how I could blame all of it on Emmett and his inability to control his urges when he hunted. And I thought about what I would say to Rosalie about her mate making things difficult for us wherever we went. But what it really came down to was the fact that I didn't know what I was going to say at all. It was very frustrating.

I made it to the house less than five minutes after our starting point, and as soon as I was at the porch steps, I set her down and then sat down in front of her. She opened her eyes to look at me again, and I eased closer to her with her hands in mine. She shivered as our skin touched, and her heart sped up slightly until she was blushing gently. I really wished she wouldn't do that, because it was going to make this so much harder than it should've been.

"I need you to listen to me," I said to her, lifting my finger to her cheek where she was bleeding slightly. "I never really wanted to lie to you. I mean, I had to, for your safety. I wasn't expecting you to appear in my life like this, and I didn't want to hurt you. I still don't. That's why I had to stop Emmett from following through with his thoughts. It wasn't just for me or my family. I stopped him for you as well. There are many different reasons why this has changed everything. I wish there were an easy way to make you understand this without scaring you. But I'm at a loss as to how I can accomplish that."

"You're . . . not human," she said, going over all the things she seen and felt since meeting me. _Fast. Strong. Cold. Pale. Color-changing eyes. Never eat or drink. Appear, disappear._

I bowed my head, listening to Carlisle approach the doors to the porch. "No," I said to her. "I'm not. None of us are," I explained as the doors opened to reveal Carlisle there alone. I sighed softly, taking her hands again and pulling her to her feet as he stepped in front of us.

"Edward," he said, and I could hear what he was thinking now that Emmett had told him what had happened in the woods.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," I told him as earnestly as I could. "But Emmett . . ."

"I understand," he nodded. "And Emmett has apologized for his behavior. Next time, I'll be taking him while you go with Esme and Rosalie. But this changes things," he informed me, lowering his eyes to hers as she tried to hide behind me. I held her hand in mine protectively.

"We only have a short time before the sun sets," I pressed. "If she's here now then it means she's been out here long enough for her parents to start worrying. I want to tell her so she'll be safe, but she should get home so her father won't send out people to look for her."

"How much does she know?" he asked, still looking in her eyes in a way that said he only wanted her safety as much as I did.

"She's seen me and Emmett fight," I reminded him. "But there have been other things. I told you she was curious."

"I shouldn't have come out here," she said, and we both looked at her. "I was worried, and I had to make sure you were all okay."

"What do you mean?" I asked her. "Why were you worried?"

"My father got a call last night from one of the rangers at the station that a group of campers had been attacked about five miles outside of town," she explained, looking at me and then Carlisle. "A group of five campers. He said the ranger told him it looked like they'd been mauled by a bear, but when he got back this morning, he said that even though they'd looked pretty bad, there hadn't been any blood on the site at all. Edward said you were all going camping, and I had to make sure it wasn't you."

"When did this happen?" I asked her, curious as to how I'd missed the thoughts of other vampires in the area.

"He said they were attacked Monday morning. They were found last night."

I looked at Carlisle, and he was thinking the same thing I was. He was able to keep a calm expression on his face as he reached for her and took her hands from mine.

"Keira, please come with me," he requested, her name hitting my ears and causing me to react by remembering the look on her face when she'd seen us. "You have some scrapes on your face. We should put some antibiotics on those. We'll have you home before dark, I promise."

She looked at me as Carlisle pulled her inside, and I tried to look reassuring, but she still looked scared. I didn't know how to keep her from becoming more frightened as we all entered the house quietly.

Esme was waiting with antiseptic and ointment for Keira's scrapes, and Carlisle sat her down on the couch to look at her face. I stood away from the couch to give her space, but when she looked at me, I automatically moved forward to sit over the table in front of the couch to be close to her.

"These shouldn't take too long to heal," Carlisle said, easing gauze over her cheeks and forehead and then rubbing ointment over them to keep them from hurting. "I'm much more interested in helping you. You must have been more frightened than I can imagine. Are you certain you're all right?"

She looked at me again, bowing her head. "I'm a little shaken," she admitted. "I keep thinking I'll wake up, and this will all have been a dream."

Esme sat at her side and began removing the leaves and twigs from her hair. "That's a very strange dream," she smiled, smoothing Keira's hair gently.

At that moment, another thought flashed through her head, of me standing over a dead deer on the forest floor, and she looked at me with a nervous grin on her face. "Yeah. Strange. But I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"Unfortunately, no," Carlisle said gravely, thinking about how far back he would have to go to tell her everything she would need to know to be safe. "And more than that, you're not safe. Not here, not anymore. And there's much we need to discuss, but I'll grant Edward this one request to wait until tomorrow since it is getting late. Until then, I must plead with you to keep everything you've seen to yourself. The survival of my family depends on it."

"Absolutely," she said immediately. "You've been so kind. I would never want any of you to be hurt. Not even Emmett, especially if he couldn't help it."

Carlisle bowed his head graciously, lifting his eyes to mine. _You'll need to watch her tonight to be safe. If there are others in the area, they'll sense her now that she's been exposed to us. _

I acknowledged him silently, rising slowly and reaching for Keira's hands as she sat between Carlisle and Esme. "I'll take you home," I told her, seeing the curious look in her eyes again and glancing at Carlisle to see him tense even though he said nothing.

Rosalie and Emmett were waiting outside the room when I stepped into the foyer with Keira, and they both looked at me before Emmett spoke up.

"I'm sorry, man," he offered with his head hung. "I guess I — I wasn't thinking. You know I wouldn't hurt her if I'd known."

I glanced at Keira, and she looked at me before stepping closer to him slowly to put her arms around him. Both Rosalie and I stiffened the moment Emmett returned her gesture, but then he let go, and it was over. Keira forgave easier than she forgot apparently, but she was no longer afraid. I hoped it meant she would be able to accept the situation as easily as she'd said to Carlisle.

She returned to my side, and I pulled her through the front door as the afternoon sun had already begun its descent toward the western horizon. Without any clouds to cover it up, the deep orange and red hues of the setting sun hit my face and caused Keira to stop in her tracks as we stood on the porch. She stepped closer to me, lifting her hand to my cheek and then looking back at the sun before returning her eyes to me.

"Does it scare you?" I asked softly.

She tilted her head to the side, not grinning but not frowning. "No," she said certainly. "I've just been wondering what you would look like in the sun, and . . . I guess now I know."

I took her hands in mine, bowing my head until my forehead was close to hers. "You should be afraid of me," I told her. "Because I'm much worse than any criminal your father has ever seen. But I think I would put myself in harm's way before I allowed myself to hurt you. So you're safe with me. All right?"

She nodded instantly, grasping onto my hands with hers and then glancing back at the sun before again looking at my face.

I lifted her in my arms again then, holding her against me and starting down the path from my house to the road.

"What about my bicycle?" she asked.

"I'll come back for it," I promised. "Do you trust me?"

She barely hesitated. "Yes."

I grinned, speeding up slightly. "You shouldn't," I warned her. "But since you do, shut your eyes."

She obeyed immediately, laying her face in the bend of my neck less than a second before I took off, running down the path to the road and then turning south to get into town before the sun could even touch the top of the trees in the distance. She likened the feeling to flying, holding me tighter and even laughing a little as we flew passed a freight truck on its way to the town's grocery store. I'd never done anything like this before, so it was a little strange at first, but as we neared the block her house was located on, I'd become accustomed to it quickly. She fit easily into my arms, and it felt like I'd always been meant to have her in my life now. I liked how that felt.

I made sure to stop between houses so we wouldn't appear to come out of nowhere, and I set her down gently as the street lights began coming on.

"I'll wait until after dinner," I told her, "and then I'll come to your window. Carlisle thinks I should keep you safe tonight."

"Why? What's happening?"

"It's probably nothing serious," I assured her. "Just go inside before your mother really starts to worry. Your father will be home in half an hour."

She bowed her head then, stepping away from me and walking into her house without looking back at me. I moved back into the shadows, listening to her mother call for her.

"_How was your walk, honey?"_

"_It was fine,"_ Keira replied from the stairs as she walked up them slowly.

"_Do you feel any better?"_

"_I do. Thank you."_

"_Come down when you get cleaned up, and we'll start dinner."_

Keira hesitated, thinking about me and how difficult it was going to be to keep lying to her mother. _"Okay,"_ she said after half a minute.

I stood outside watching her father arrive home and then listening as they all sat down to dinner. Fisher was concerned about his sister, as I expected him to be, and he asked several times if there was anything he could do to help her. Keira graciously refused, stating only that she'd simply needed a little time away from school and that she was more than fine now. I was curious about that, but I forced myself to stay where I was until I knew it would be safe for me to go inside. Kyle was insufferable, teasing her and commenting about how he should probably get distracted by a girl at school so maybe he could remain home the way she had. His attitude really was becoming a problem, more than that, he seemed to be convinced I was the one distracting her. He wasn't that fond of me, which didn't surprise me since the last three weeks had been filled with nothing but his showing of complete contempt for me.

The front porch light went off at nine o'clock, and I moved along the edge of the yard to the back where Keira's room appeared to be. I listened to her mother say goodnight to her, and when I saw her step in front of her window to unlock it, I moved forward, climbing the trellis and then crawling through the window to be across the room from her desk and her bed. I made very little noise, closing the window and then watching as she sat in her bed nervously. Her hair was wet and she was wearing a white cotton night gown that looked older than she was.

"My grandmother's," she explained, apparently noticing my expression. "I wear it sometimes. She said she wore it when she was having an especially rough day, and I think today qualifies."

I nodded then, and she sank into the bed slowly, watching me as I knelt at her bedside with the lamp still on. "I'm so sorry this is happening," I told her. "I should've been more careful with you. I sensed how curious you were, and I could've stopped this a long time ago. But I won't put you in danger by leaving you unprotected. So I'll be here until Carlisle says it's safe again."

"What's happening?" she asked me calmly.

"Just something we'll have to keep an eye on until we're certain there's no longer a threat. I promise you're safe with me, Keira."

"How did you sense how curious I was?" she asked, holding onto her pillow as she gazed up at me.

I bowed my head, trying to form the words in my head, but when I looked at her, I was at a loss as to where to begin. "I can sense a lot of things about humans," I said to start. "You in particular."

"When are you going to tell me what you are?" she pressed gently.

I scooted closer, lowering my voice in an attempt to soften my words. "I want to tell you everything," I promised her. "But I'm not sure you're ready to hear it. You _have_ had an exciting day," I reminded her with a grin.

She sighed softly, reaching out slowly and touching my forehead. The heat of her skin sent a million tendrils of electricity through me, and as she laid her palm over my cheek, I helplessly leaned into her touch. And then she spoke. "Well, you're not a ghost," she said, prompting me to open my eyes and lift them to hers. "And you're not an animal or meant to turn into one. It's passed the full moon."

I took her hand in mine, setting my arm over the bed. "Shall we go down the list again?" I teased. "I, um, know you were thinking about it earlier. I have a gift for things like that."

"You have a gift for what?" she asked, seeming to make the connection and gasping softly as she sat up away from me. "Oh, my God!" she breathed. "You can hear what I'm thinking?"

I followed her quickly, sitting on her bed uneasily and then laying my finger over her lips. "Shh. It's all right. I never did it intentionally. But I was so curious about you. After you began speaking to me, I didn't have to do it as much. Mostly, it's only things you're thinking in the moment. I promise it's all right."

"This is so embarrassing," she whispered, blushing and then covering her face with both her hands.

I laughed, amused by her behavior even as I lifted her chin to look at her. "Keira, please. It's all right. Now. Your list."

The short succession of words filled her mind again, and she thought about it for several seconds before looking at me. "How old are you?" she asked me softly.

"Physically, I'm seventeen," I told her still sitting in front of her and lowering my hands to her waist unconsciously.

"And by year? How old are you?" she pressed, now grasping onto my arms.

I inhaled, the action more compulsory than it ever had been. "Well, as of June of this year, I'm forty-four years old. I was born in 1901, in Chicago."

"Edward," she urged. "Tell me. I want to know."

I gazed into her eyes, seeing the same curious look I always had and thinking back to the beginning. "First," I said, "and most importantly, Esme isn't my sister. And Carlisle isn't my brother-in-law. I actually think of them more like my mother and father."

"How long have you known them?" she inquired quietly. "And what about Rosalie and Emmett?"

"I met Carlisle in 1918," I revealed, watching her carefully but sensing no change in her thoughts. "My parents and I were dying from Spanish Influenza, and my mother begged him to help me as a dying wish. We both think she knew he was different. But he saved me, in his own way. He found Esme a few years later in 1921. They fell in love and were married. That's when we started using this charade of me being her brother. Because we look alike. But I'm not related to either of them. In certain ways, I'm an orphan, and they're my adoptive family."

"And Rosalie and Emmett?" Her voice was gentle as she began listing her things again.

I paused, still attempting to guard my words. "Carlisle found her in 1933. When we were in Rochester. She'd been attacked, and he saved her life much like he'd saved mine, though she wasn't quite as grateful at first. Two years later, it was only by chance that she found Emmett in a similar situation as she'd been, and she carried him to Carlisle to save him as well. They fell in love then, and that left me, well, alone."

"She carried Emmett?"

I nodded.

"How — Edward, when you say Carlisle saved your life — How did he do that?"

I paused again. "He changed me from what I was to what I am now," I explained. "It was the only way I could've survived."

"And what are you now?" she asked me, already starting to drift off.

It was a logical question, and she deserved an answer after everything she'd seen and heard. Over the last few minutes, I'd tried to work up the courage to tell her, but I was still worried about her sanity. I scooted off the bed, again kneeling to the floor and allowing her to lay back down.

"It's better if Carlisle tells you the rest," I assured her. "I don't want to frighten you, and despite your determination, I can promise it isn't something you're expecting. Just sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

Her eyes drooped slightly then, and within seconds, she was asleep, her breathing evening out and her thoughts simplifying as she relaxed. I stared at her intently, having never seen a human sleep before. I hadn't slept in thirty years, and I had to admit, it was a curious activity — necessary for humans, redundant for vampires.

I turned off her lamp softly, remaining by her bedside as she slept and listening outside her room for any moment when her parents or her brothers might check in on her. The scrapes on her cheeks had softened with the ointment Carlisle had rubbed on them, but I could still see red, irritated tissue surrounding them. I was surprised her mother hadn't noticed, but I guessed she'd done something to keep them from being noticed. For the time being anyway.

* * *

**Thanks to everyone who's read. I hope you liked this part with Edward.**

**Again, not a lot to say, other than that. I tried to keep Edward's explanation as simple as possible. Carlisle will be the one to use the word that will explain everything to Keira.**

**See you all next time!  
**


	9. Lecture

**Okay, I know it's been a little while since I updated this particular story, but I promise I've been working on it - along with everything else, and there's a lot where that came from, believe me.**

**If you're still reading, you know what happened in the last chapter, and there shouldn't be a need to explain things so far, except to say there's the massive of all vampire explanations coming up in the next chapter, so stay tuned.**

**Also, there will be some French in this chapter, but don't worry, translations will come at the bottom.**

**I really appreciate everyone who's read, but I'd really like to know what you all think, and this story has been seriously lacking in that area. I'm glad people are reading, but I need to know if you want more of this story.**

**Please?**

**Oh, and the other vampire's thoughts are in bold and Italics. ;-)  
**

**Now, go on! Read!  
**

* * *

_**Lecture**_

_**October, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

In the moments before dawn, I took my leave from Keira's room to run back to my house where her bike was still resting against my porch. I was back before she woke, leaving the bike in a spot that looked appropriate enough before I climbed the trellis to her room with enough time to spare the sun creeping over the tops of the trees in the distance. Her room was just brightening up with the pale white light of morning, and I knelt at her bedside as I had the night before to watch her as she slept. I'd never done it before, and she was an intriguing human to watch sleep to say the least. She thought while she slept, and when she dreamed in the final seconds before she woke, I was surprised to discover it was about me — but not in a way any other girl would have at this point.

To say she was still working over this new mystery in front of her was a bit of an understatement as she now dreamt of me shimmering in the yellow light of midday as I raced through the woods toward an unseen destination. I wasn't an oddity to her, nor was I some unattainable male god from Greek Myth. I was just me, and I was more relieved to see this part of me inside her head than I think I ever had been in a very long time. I'd wished for this for so long — someone who could see me, and not what I was or what I'd been.

I watched the images in her mind dim completely until she was opening her eyes gently. Light shining through her window touched my face then, and I could see relief in her eyes as she extended her hand to touch my face the way she had the night previous. She was still so warm, a little warmer than I'd expected, and she rubbed the pad of her thumb over the top of my cheek as the thoughts she'd had before falling asleep again became prevalent.

"You're still here," she whispered.

I took her hand in mine, grasping onto it gently. "I told you I would be. But I must leave before your parents wake. You'll have to ride to school with Fisher, and then I'll see you."

She rose to her elbows, still looking over my face and wondering silently how all this was possible.

"Carlisle will be able to answer all your questions," I promised her. "If you can, tell your parents my family and I came back early, and you saw me in town yesterday. It should be all right with them for you to come to my house after school, and then Emmett and I will bring you home."

"Can he really tell me everything in a couple of hours?" she asked softly.

I leaned as close to her as I could, inhaling and allowing her scent to fill my lungs as I pressed my forehead to hers. "He'll tell you everything you need to know for you to be safe," I whispered even as a series of noises sounded off outside her room signaling that her father was leaving his bedroom down the hall. I leaned back to look at her. "Your father's coming," I revealed, to which she turned her head to the door and gave me an opportunity to leave before being caught.

I was out her window and on the ground away from the house before the door to her room opened, and I listened to her talk to her father.

"_Hey, you're awake. How are you feeling this morning?"_

"_Better,"_ she responded, still thinking and wondering where I'd gone.

"_Well, why don't you get ready, and we'll all eat breakfast."_

"_I'll be right there,"_ she promised.

He closed her door then, and I watched her hurry to her window to look out into the yard where I was still standing. I nodded that everything would be okay, and she stepped away from the window then to start her day.

From there, I ran back to my house, reaching the front porch before five minutes could pass and then hurrying through the house to my room so I could change. I wondered what would happen at school now that Keira knew things about my family that no one else knew, but I wasn't worried. I knew I could trust her, and I would make sure no one would hurt her. I didn't know anything beyond that, and I found myself giving in to the change I could feel myself experiencing. All because of a human. Unbelievable.

I was changing shirts when Emmett poked his head into my room with a small smile on his face. He was back to his normal self, thinking something inappropriate about the fact that I'd spent all night in Keira's room.

"You ready for school, man?" he inquired with a soft chuckle.

"Give me a few more seconds," I hedged, unconsciously pursing my lips and listening to him toss around the few things he was wondering about as he left with the door cracked open. I finished dressing, grabbing my journal and following him downstairs where Rosalie was waiting impatiently. She looked at me indignantly.

_I can't believe you're all so excited about this! She's a human, for goodness sake!_

I chose not to respond, facing Esme and Carlisle as they waited.

"Everything went all right?" Esme asked of my vigil.

"I didn't see and hear anything out of the ordinary," I promised her.

"And you were a gentleman?" she pressed.

I would've blushed if I'd still had a pulse. "Of course," I swore.

"We'll need to talk this afternoon when you come back," Carlisle added. "With Keira, of course. We need to be delicate with this, Edward. If there are other vampires in the area, it will alert our _neighbors_ to the dangers of their presence."

I nodded. "I understand," I assured.

"Let's go," Rosalie demanded, turning to the door and leading the way out onto the porch and then the car as it waited.

The ride to school was filled with Rosalie's incessant complaints about how I'd messed up our existence here and that we were likely going to be leaving soon now that a human knew about us. She was also gloating about how I'd been the one to attract this particular human after all the times I'd admonished Emmett for his indiscretions. Emmett, on the other hand, couldn't stop thinking of all the things I could've done while I'd sat in Keira's room watching her during the night. He'd already completely brushed off the encounter from the day before, but I was going to have to make it clear to him that Keira wasn't a typical human. Other than that, I left them to their thoughts, knowing that as soon as Carlisle explained everything to Keira, they would both see how easy it would be to go back to way things had been. But I had to admit to myself that I was a little worried.

We arrived at the school at precisely seven-thirty, when only half the student body was actually at the school. Keira and her brothers were nowhere to be found, but it was early still, and I wasn't worried with how her father had behaved upon discovering her awake when he'd checked in on her. As much as I hated to admit it, I'd been observing humans for a long time, and even though I'd never really met anyone like Keira, I'd met a lot of people like her father. He was the kind of man you expected to find in a small town, even if I knew the only reason he'd moved back here was to keep his children safe. I had to admire him for that.

"You know this isn't going to work," Rosalie informed me, and I looked at her from my side of the car. "It never does. That's why we don't interact with them this way. And you know that. Why are you even attempting to do this?"

I glanced at Emmett, but he said nothing, and I looked out across the parking lot. "You've known me for ten years, Rosalie," I reminded her. "You should know I'm not embarking on this lightly. And it's not just about her. This is about me too. Emmett was human when you saw him the first time. How is this any different?"

"He was dying," she hissed at me. "And I didn't carry on a dangerous relationship with him for two months before he was attacked. You have no intention of allowing her to become what we are. That's how it's different! And if you don't hurt her, someone else of our kind will when they find out about her. Is that what you want?"

Emmett snickered, and I looked at him less than a second before Rosalie shot him a murderous glare. "You said 'relationship'," he chuckled. "He hasn't even gone out on a date with her. How can he be in a relationship with her?"

"You know what I mean," she accused. "She's human! It's not safe for him to be anywhere near her, and he knows that. He knew that before he even spoke to her. And he's endangering all of us by continuing with this stupid escapade. It's not just about the people in town," she barked softly. "If there are other vampires in the area, they'll smell him around her. Again, I ask you," she looked at me, "is that what you want? If you seem to care something about her."

"Of course, that's not what I want," I stated incredulously. "What? You think I haven't thought of every horrible thing that could go wrong because of her? You think I don't know Emmett could've killed her yesterday, or that I could have? You think I don't know how dangerous this is for all of us? Well, you're wrong. I thought about it all night. And the plain truth is that I will not leave her unprotected with other vampires on the loose, because they will smell me around her. They'll smell you and Emmett, and they'll smell Carlisle and Esme, and if they don't confront us, we'll all be lucky. We're the monsters here, remember? She's innocent in all this, and if I have to tell her what we are to keep her safe, then that's what I will do. Regardless of how you feel, and it's probably better that you aren't so hostile toward her."

Rosalie lifted her chin defiantly. "And exactly why is that?" she demanded.

"Because it's part of how she realized something was different about us. I can take care of myself," I reminded her. "I might not look it, but I am older than you. I can control myself around her. I don't need you to guard me or her."

Emmett laughed again, but Rosalie didn't take her eyes off me. She moved around the end of the car to face me. "I wasn't doing that for your benefit," she snapped. "I was watching the human you chose to bring into our house. And I will continue to do so until I know I can trust her, which I don't see happening any time soon."

She walked around me then, and I glanced at Emmett, seeing him shrug as he followed her, and I exhaled loudly as another car pulled into the lot. I looked to see it was Keira and her brothers, and despite the argument I'd just had with Rosalie, I was even more resolute about this new development than I had been less than two hours earlier when Keira had awakened in her bed. If she was in danger, I was the only person who could protect her, and that was exactly what I was going to do, regardless of Rosalie's negative feelings on the subject.

With that, I stepped away from Emmett's car and made my way toward Keira as Fisher helped her out of the back seat. He nodded once, nudging Keira toward me as she blushed. Kyle still eyed me suspiciously, but he said nothing, leading the way into school as Keira and I trailed them slowly.

"I take it they've approved of you coming to my house this afternoon," I said softly, unconsciously guiding her toward the doors.

"I told them I would be home for dinner," she acknowledged.

"And?"

She blushed deeper, bowing her head. "I thought Fisher was going to do a victory dance," she said, obviously embarrassed by his jovial behavior.

"What about Kyle?"

"He scowled," she said simply.

I smiled. "So he's warming up to me, I take it," I teased, and she laughed softly.

* * *

Most of the student body, it appeared, had noticed my, Emmett and Rosalie's absence, and it was a little disconcerting to know that we'd elicited so much attention. The teachers in my first three classes didn't know what to do with me, especially when I actually participated in Advanced Mathematics with Abigail and Keira. I thought Mr. Clarence was going to have an stroke right there in the middle of the classroom when I answered his most difficult mathematics problem yet. It was amusing to see I still had him flustered.

Mr. Filmore had to take a double take to make sure it was actually me walking into his classroom behind Keira, and when he asked about our project, I was the one to tell him that we would be gathering more material for him that afternoon. I wasn't really lying, considering Keira would be going to my house to talk with Carlisle, and Keira easily confirmed this for me when he turned to her and asked her the same question. She didn't struggle with the truth at all, and I was astonished at how calm she was about everything that had happened. I didn't know if she was purposefully hiding anything, but as far as her thoughts, she was calm and collected. For that, I was grateful.

Through Social Studies and then P.E. with Emmett, I was again made to explain to my teachers that through circumstances out of my control, we'd all been forced to come back from our camping trip. It wasn't totally untrue, but I felt strange having to do it with Keira nearby. She knew the truth, and she didn't seem to mind me telling little white lies to the teachers who asked what was so important that I'd had to leave school. A little at a time throughout the morning, she was beginning to understand. I tried not to be anxious about that, but by the time we got to lunch, I think it was showing on my face, because she called me on it.

"I know you're worried," she said. "I'm not scared. Not of you."

I spotted Emmett and Rosalie at our normal table, but I opted for an empty one since it appeared Abigail had found a harmless group of girls to sit with. I sat down with the food in front of me, knowing I wasn't going to eat it, and Keira followed me.

"You should be terrified," I informed her. "Because I could hurt you without meaning to, the way Emmett almost did."

"But you didn't," she reminded me softly. "You stopped him. And I know you would stop yourself before you could do anything to hurt me."

I sat back in my chair, folding my arms over my chest and pursing my lips slightly. "Then what exactly are you afraid of?" I asked her pointedly. "If you aren't afraid of me."

She lowered her eyes to her plate, nibbling on the carrot in her fingers. A half a minute later, she glanced around and then scooted closer to me. "What killed those campers?" she asked softly so no one would hear her. "I know that's why you stayed last night."

I didn't want to have this conversation with her here, but I didn't want to lie to her either. "We're not sure," I said as honestly as I could. "But Carlisle thinks it could be others like what we are."

"And what are you?" she asked, the same as she had the night before.

I glanced around, seeing several of the students staring at us and lowering my voice even more. "We shouldn't talk about this here," I told her. "And I shouldn't be the one to tell you. Carlisle's had more experience with this, and I don't want to say anything to frighten you. But you're safe with me. I promise you will be as long as you need to be."

"And I need to be right now?" she inquired a little more softly than she had before, her face closer to mine than it had been since the afternoon previous.

"Yes," I nodded. "And I'll keep you that way until Carlisle says it's safe. All right?"

She smiled, folding her arms over the table in front of her. "All right," she agreed with a light chuckle.

"Is something funny?" I asked curiously.

"I wouldn't say funny," she amended. "Endearing, maybe? I can still remember when you wouldn't talk to me at all. And now you're protecting me from whatever's out there threatening other people. I should be scared for them. I am scared for them. But I'm scared for my own family. And you're going to keep us safe. I know no one else would be able to do that."

I grinned slightly, the humor in her voice eliciting a strange reaction as I unconsciously leaned closer to her and laid my hand over hers.

"Get any closer, little brother," Emmett teased as he and Rosalie came closer to sit down with us, "and you might attract the attention of the principal."

Keira blushed as she sat up straight, and Emmett chuckled softly.

Rosalie was still angry with me, badgering me with her thoughts and promising to make it as difficult as she could for me to be around Keira without her very close by. I sat up then, resuming my former posture with my arms over my chest. I didn't exactly glare at her, but in less than a second, I reminded her that I was older than her and more in control of myself than she or Emmett were at the moment. I could certainly handle myself around one human girl.

"So are you getting stared at in class?" Emmett joked though I knew from his tone that he'd experienced the same thing I had from his teachers.

"Slightly," I confirmed. "But it's not anything I'm concerned over."

He nodded, pretending the finger the vegetables on his plate, and for a long, awkward moment, nothing was said. Rosalie was still being difficult. I was honestly suggesting she and Kyle start a club, but it looked like Emmett and Fisher could possibly be friends if they ever met one another. I made a mental note to see about that possibility.

After lunch, Keira and I walked to French class together while Rosalie and Emmett went in their respective directions. I tried not to think about all the things that had just happened, especially all those things going through Emmett's head when he'd sat down at the table with me and Keira. Several of those images weren't really horrible, but watching me sit so close to Keira and seeing it from Emmett's perspective, I could understand why he was still teasing me. It was sort of one of the good things about being able to do what I did. Sometimes, even if the person in front of me didn't know they were doing it, I could see the most colorful collage of memories being around me tended to stir up. And Emmett and Rosalie were no exception. Even in her hostility, there was something between me and Keira that made her remember the first time she'd seen Emmett. It was clear they both saw something happening between me and this human girl, and while Emmett was trying to be amusing about the whole thing, it was obvious that Rosalie was fighting the things she was seeing — the things threatening to change her world the way she liked it.

Keira didn't seem oblivious to any of the happenings in the lunch room either, unable to really meet my eyes and blushing whenever she did. She was remembering a human boy with blond hair and brown eyes from the time when she'd lived in Seattle, but her thoughts told me that she'd only really seen him from a distance, as she still thought of herself too young for such things. I wasn't certain she wasn't wrong, but the way she carried herself and the way she behaved whenever she was approached by any other boy made me think she wasn't only ready for it, but she also didn't really want it yet. With me, it was different. I didn't exactly make her nervous, but I wasn't like any other boy she'd ever known, and it prompted her to behave differently. I was smarter and usually more mature than most other boys, and Keira noticed, actually amending her behavior accordingly. No human had ever done that around me before, and it was a little disconcerting since I didn't really know what it meant just yet.

Ms. Lockhart, like all the teachers before her, was a little shocked at my appearance in her class when Keira and I entered together. She'd heard the gossip surrounding my surprise return to school a day early, and as with everyone else, she was unable to hide it from her face. But she said nothing, simply acknowledging me and then returning to the work on her desk. The annoyance on my face was enough to keep everyone else in the classroom from speaking to me, and when all the students were in their seats, Ms. Lockhart began her lessons.

"Midterm tests last week were dismal," she announced. "And semester exams in eight weeks will improve, or you will spend the time after Winter Break working through all your basic pronunciation all over again. There were only a few good test scores," she revealed, her eyes settling on me, Keira and a girl a few seats in front of me. "The rest of you have a lot of work to do. When I return your test papers, I want those of you with poor scores to look over the papers to see the marks I've made and study them to understand what you've done wrong."

She proceeded in her task, and when that was finished, I had the fullest intention of paying her every bit of my attention, but something strange caught me attention.

_**The town's thick with another coven.**_

I tried not to look around the room, knowing this thought could not have come from any of these students. I used my sense of smell and the tenor of the thought to sniff out the other vampire whose thoughts I'd just heard. It was a male, and he wasn't alone. He'd come close enough for me to hear him, which meant he was definitely within a couple of miles of the school, and that worried me more than it had the night before.

"_Quel est le problème?"_ Keira's voice snapped me out of my own thoughts, and I made a point of switching gears, if not to keep our conversation private, then to keep from alarming her in the middle of class.

"_Je peux entendre un autre comme moi à proximité,"_ I whispered softly.

Unlike the first conversation we'd had in French where she'd been unsure and a little irritated by my behavior, this time, she understood me perfectly as I glanced around the room, and she was doing the same thing though not as unnoticeably. Immediately, I tried to keep her calm.

"_Tout va bien. Tu es en sécurité. Ils ne vous approche, si je suis avec vous,"_ I promised. "Relax," I whispered in English.

Having me in the room with her seemed to make her do just that, but then I heard more.

_**So many unsuspecting people. This coven must have a spell cast over the town. Guess I should introduce myself so there's no confusion.**_

I glanced at Keira, seeing her eyes still blanketing the room, and she looked at me after a few seconds. I tried to look like I hadn't just heard this new vampire, and I grinned forcefully even though I think it made things worse.

Finally, class was over, and as soon as I got in the hallway with Keira, I pulled her around the corner and spoke as urgently and calmly as I could.

"I have to find Emmett and Rosalie," I whispered. "We have to make sure the school is safe, and then I'll come back for you. If they're close, you're not safe."

"What about Fisher and Kyle?" she pleaded, her forehead creasing deeply. "My parents. Abigail."

I glanced around, noticing the hallways filling even more and moving her further into the corner to lower my voice even more as I lowered my lips to her ear. "You're the one who's been to my house," I reminded her, aware of her hand as she lifted it to my arm. "They'll smell me on you, and these . . . people are more interested in my family than the others I've merely had contact with. Your family and Abigail are safe. You are not. Go to study hall. I'll be back."

She lifted her eyes to mine, and for several seconds, neither of us moved. Then she bowed her head, and I allowed her to move further down the hallway to the study hall room. I glanced around the hallway, spotting Fisher and a few other students whose eyes also found mine. His was the only pair I was concerned about, and even though I'd just put his sister in danger by being near her, I nodded in his direction, and he nodded back. With that, I moved off in the opposite direction to find my own siblings.

I knew Emmett would be on his way to his own Advanced Science class, and I moved through the hallway to an exit as inconspicuously as I could to run around the outside of the school to the side of the building Emmett was supposed to be on. I found him easily as he exchanged books for his next class, and I tried not to appear out of nowhere as I reached his side and whispered urgently.

"I just heard one of the others," I told him, immediately garnering his attention. "I think they're nearby, and if they are, we can't linger here — especially with Keira. Whether Rosalie likes it or not, we have to keep them from finding Keira."

He looked around, and I did too. Then he spoke. "What should we do?"

"We have to make sure the school is safe, and then we have to get Keira away from here. It seems our afternoon is going to be starting a little earlier than expected."

"I'll get Rose. We'll check around the south end and meet you in the woods behind the school."

I nodded, and he moved off in the opposite direction to find Rosalie while I walked back in the direction I'd come from to start my search.

I'd never had to look for another vampire before, but I could use my smell and the thoughts I'd heard to know if he was any closer than a couple of miles. I could smell Emmett and Rosalie to the south even though they weren't downwind, and I could smell several other things — including Keira as her scent wafted through the air gently. I used every sense I had at my disposal, listening as hard as I could, looking as far as I could and smelling the air every few seconds to detect as hint of another vampire smell nearby.

At first, there was nothing. The area felt and appeared to be clear. I started to relax, and I was about to go back inside for Keira when the wind shifted from the northwest, bringing with it a new smell. At first, it was light, merely carried by the wind as it reached me, but then, it became much more prominent like it was coming closer to me. It smelled nothing like Emmett or Rosalie, nor did it smell anything like Carlisle or Esme, and I knew it was because this vampire was more than likely the kind that fed off humans. As a result, his smell was horribly hearty and thick, warm even though there was an icy, sweet tinge to it that overpowered whatever natural smell he might have developed while on a diet like ours.

The more I smelled, I realized how far away he was, and he was considerably farther away than I'd initially thought. I knew that would give us an advantage, and I looked up at the sky to see that nearly forty-five minutes had passed since I'd begun my search. I knew I had ten minutes to get inside for Keira, and I hurried to where I could meet Emmett and Rosalie in the woods behind the school. They were waiting for me, Rosalie holding an almost smug look on her face. Emmett was on point, worried like I was even though he only showed a fraction of it on his face.

"Did you smell him too?" Emmett asked.

I nodded. "We have to get Keira away from here," I insisted. "He's coming closer, and he knows we're here. He can smell us just like I said he would."

"And exactly how do you propose we remove the human from the inside of the school?" Rosalie asked incredulously, like I hadn't already thought of how to do that without anyone missing her.

I smirked, leaving them there and running back to the school as all the other classes remained in session. After having walked these halls for the last two months, I'd been able to memorize many of the exits in case of a need to leave quickly, and I'd also spotted a few of the fire alarms that didn't happen to be in plain sight where nearly anyone could pull one even though only a small number of students had actually thought about doing so.

I looked down every line of sight I could, easing along the wall toward one of those fire alarms, and without so much as a second thought, I broke the glass and initiated the alarm in the same hit. A loud, old brass bell began ringing above my head, and I ran in the direction of the study hall as all the sprinklers in the hall sprang to life in anticipation of a blaze to be put out. Instantly, students from inside the rooms rushed into the hallways, some more wet than others, and I made it to study hall just as the door opened. I kept my eyes open for Keira, spotting her as she followed Fisher out of the room, and without thinking, I grabbed them both to keep them from getting lost in the sea of people.

Keira was immediately pressed to my right side, somewhat drenched on her left side, and Fisher turned to see me there. But he said nothing. His thoughts were more on the fact that the sprinklers had all come on for what appeared to be no reason at all, and before he could question my presence, we all moved in the opposite direction of everyone else to leave through an open exit as the teachers inside also began moving other students out of the school.

"Are you okay?" Fisher asked as soon as we were outside, and I knew he was talking to Keira.

"Yes," she said softly. "Soaked, but otherwise all right. What was that?"

"I'm not sure," he said, obviously noticing the fact that while I was wet, I was also somewhat unaffected by the fire alarm being pulled. "But we should get around the front where everyone else is."

"I'll be right there," she nodded, allowing him to squeeze her hand before he looked at me and then turned to hurry to the front courtyard where everyone else was waiting.

As soon as he was gone, Keira spoke softly to me. "What's happening?" she pleaded.

"Another one is close," I told her. "We have to get you away from here."

"So you pulled the fire alarm?" she inquired, laughing softly.

I shrugged. "It was either that or call you from the principal's office," I revealed. "And this way, school will be out the rest of the day, which would've only lasted another hour, so they shouldn't miss you. The principal's already upset that the papers all over his desk are completely soaked through, and he couldn't possibly get anymore work done. Cover already in place."

"What about Fisher?" she asked earnestly. "What am I supposed to tell him?"

"We have a few hours to come up with your excuse," I promised her. "Right now, we've got to move. Emmett should be coming with the car soon, and we'll be at the house sooner than you expect."

Her lips twisted into a small smile, and when I reached for her hand, she allowed me to pull her along to where Emmett was supposed to be meeting us. He arrived on time, and I helped her into the back seat before looking back at the school. Instantly, I knew Fisher was watching us leave, but I didn't say or do anything, sliding into the car and nodding for Emmett to go. It appeared even he could see something happening between me and his sister, but I couldn't see anything strange of us really coming to his thoughts. So for now, until Keira got home later, we were all safe.

* * *

**I've got a few ideas for this mysterious vampire, but I'm still working out a few details. There will be more of that later.**

**Again, I really want to thank everyone for reading, and I hope you'll tell me what you think of it so far, even if you don't like it.**

**And now for the Translations!**

_**"Quel est le problème?" - **_**What's wrong?**

**_"Je peux entendre un autre comme moi à proximité."_ - I can hear another one like me nearby.**

_**"Tout va bien. Tu es en sécurité. Ils ne vous approche, si je suis avec vous." -**_** It's all right. You're safe. They won't approach you if I'm with you.**

**- These are approximations and translated from a website, so if they're wrong let me know.**

**Also, I didn't add this new development to get readers, just so we're clear. But it would be interesting to see what you think.**

**Anyhoo! See you next time!  
**


	10. Lecture 2

**And if you're still reading then you should know what's happened so far. I can say for sure that I'm really liking the way this story is playing out, and even though it hasn't gotten much attention as of yet, the attention it's gotten so far has been really good. So thank you to everyone who's read and more importantly to those who have reviewed. I love getting reviews. They make me happy. ;-)**

**Some of this chapter follows parts of Twilight for Carlisle's story, which was told by Edward in Chapter 15 and 16. I don't own any of it. It all belongs to Stephenie Meyer. I just needed it for Carlisle to tell Keira about his life. But I did try to inject a few more references in there. Hope you like them.  
**

**Anyhoo. Not much else to say.**

**So, go on! Read!  
**

* * *

**_Lecture_**

_**October, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

Though I'd been to Edward's house quite a few times before, this time was different, and it wasn't just because of what I now knew. It wasn't just because I knew Carlisle was going to sit me down and tell me all about whatever it was they were. This time was different because Edward was bringing me to his house to keep me safe from another one like him who was somehow different from him. Edward wouldn't tell me exactly how this one was different, and he wouldn't tell me how close they were. But just looking at him was worrying me about what was coming.

Emmett drove faster than anyone I'd ever seen, with an ease that didn't seem possible, and as the trees and rocky inlays along the road flew by in a blur, I forced myself not to look at the speedometer. I didn't want to know how fast he was driving, and it appeared Edward didn't want me to know either as he almost cradled me against him and urged me to lay my head against his arm. It didn't bother me that he was somehow colder now that I was wet, and he rubbed my arm in an effort to keep me warm despite the fact that it didn't really help. I chose not to tell him that, but then I remembered that he could hear what I was thinking, and he chuckled just as I shivered against him.

"We'll be there in just a few more minutes," Edward assured me, still rubbing my arm.

I blushed helplessly, bowing my head and trying to relax.

Carlisle was waiting on the porch when we pulled down the path to the house, and Emmett parked in his usual spot before Edward eased out of the car and helped me gently. Rosalie didn't wait, stalking to the house with barely a glance backward, and Emmett glanced at me apologetically, moving to my other side as Edward pulled me toward the porch.

"Don't worry about her," Emmett said. "She just doesn't like change is all."

I sighed softly, glancing at Carlisle and thinking maybe she and I might be more alike than I'd originally thought. "I know how she feels," I replied softly.

Edward laughed, easing his arm around me. "That would be quite the revelation," he teased, squeezing me gently.

We arrived at the porch then, and Carlisle reached for me.

"You look well," he said, glancing at Edward and then Emmett. "I trust you had a restful evening."

I glanced at Edward, seeing him nod and then looking at Carlisle as he pulled me up the stairs. "It was fine," I assured him.

"Then let's get you inside before you catch a cold," he offered, nodding to Edward and then pulling me inside the foyer where Esme was waiting with a towel. "I just have to talk to Edward and Emmett," Carlisle continued. "Esme will find you something to where while we dry your clothes. Then she'll bring you to the library."

Esme stepped forward then, draping the towel over my shoulders. "Come with me," she said softly.

I glanced over my shoulder at Edward, and he nodded for me to go with Esme while he followed Carlisle and Emmett into the library. I bowed my head then, following Esme's pull as she moved fluidly up the stairs to the second floor. I wasn't sure where Rosalie was, but I tried not to worry about that. I tried to worry about what I was going to find out, and I wondered how it would feel to know for sure what Edward and his family really were.

"How did you get so wet?" Esme asked, pulling me into a large bedroom and sitting me on the bed as she moved to the closet.

"Edward said he had to get me out of school," I explained. "So he pulled the fire alarm, and all the sprinklers came on."

Esme laughed softly, pulling out a long robe and turning to face me with it. "That does sound like him. Not very subtle sometimes, especially when he needs to be. Here," she said, laying the robe over the bed and pulling me to my feet. "Do you need a warm bath? It is quite chilly outside."

I blushed, bowing my head. "I'm all right. Thank you."

She stepped back a few steps, and I realized she meant for me to give her my wet clothes, blushing even deeper as I began to disrobe. I knew I was soaked through to my skin, and even though I didn't want to relinquish all my clothes, I didn't want to get sick. So it was with great embarrassment that I pulled off all my clothes and gave them to Esme before I pulled the robe on as tightly as I could to keep myself covered.

"It's all right, my dear," she soothed. "We're both women, and you're completely safe in our house. Not even Emmett would tease you about this. Now come with me. Carlisle will probably send Edward up to change once he's finished going over everything that happened at school."

I didn't argue, clutching the front of the robe to my chest as the hem dropped just above my knees. It was silk and had the most lovely pattern of roses over one side of it while the other side was a rich cream color. It felt so soft against my skin, and it reminded me of a few of my mother's silk robes. I didn't have anything quite this elegant in my wardrobe, and it made me feel like I was playing dress-up in my mother's closet.

Esme led the way back downstairs with my clothes wrapped inside her arms, and Edward and Emmett were just coming out of the library as we made it to the foyer. Emmett smiled and winked, bypassing me for the stairs to see about Rosalie I guessed, and Edward moved forward slowly until he was standing in front of me. He glanced over what I was wearing, but he didn't say anything, looking at Esme and then bowing his head to hurry upstairs. Carlisle came out of the library then.

"Keira," he beckoned, and I glanced at Esme before slowly moving toward him as he held out his hand.

The library was warmer now than it had been any time previous as the fireplace set filled with a few logs of wood, and Carlisle sat me down in front of it before he sat at my side.

"Edward said you had a fairly eventful day," he commented.

I laughed softly. "If you call him and Emmett getting stared at all day eventful, then yes, I suppose it was."

"Edward also said you didn't have any trouble going along with any stories he had to tell the teachers concerning his . . . absence."

My smile faded. "It was no trouble at all," I swore.

He smiled then, his vibrant blue eyes turning a shade of green in the orange hue of the fire. "I suppose you deserve an explanation as to why the stories are necessary," he said to me. "But first I need you to read something of mine. Would you?"

I nodded. "Of course."

He rose swiftly then, hurrying up to the second level of the library and then returning with a worn, leather-bound book just as Edward stepped back into the library wearing, of all things, a t-shirt and a pair of jogging pants. He looked much more comfortable than I did, and at that thought, I blushed when I remembered that I was naked beneath my robe.

Carlisle sat over the lounge chair with me, handing me the book in his hands, and I glanced at Edward to see him barefoot as he settled into one of the armchairs. There were no words spoken as I opened the book and looked at the first page.

"Dracula," I read, feeling a smile crease the corner of my mouth as I lifted my eyes to Carlisle's. "Really?"

"Well, I will admit that most of the tale is false. The ramblings of demented Irishman, but there were some parts Stoker took from real experiences with our kind."

I glanced at Edward, seeing him tense but otherwise observant as he sat more still than I'd ever seen him. "And that would be . . . what exactly?"

"You know what Dracula was, don't you, Keira?" Carlisle asked softly, opening the book further to the first chapter.

"He was a vampire," I stated plainly, since I'd only known of the book through one of my friends at my previous school, and Carlisle grinned again, glancing at Edward even though he didn't say anything.

A long few seconds passed as the room became quiet, and I looked at Edward again. He said nothing, leaning forward with his hands in front of him. Despite everything I'd seen up to this point, the idea of Edward and his family being anything like Dracula still seemed impossible.

"I don't understand," I said, watching Edward rise and move to sit over the lounge chair on my other side. "Wasn't Dracula . . . I mean, didn't he kill people?"

Carlisle turned me to face him. "Well, as I said, most of the tale is false. Dracula wasn't real, as most immortal creatures in fiction are created to prevent humans from knowing the truth that is right outside their door. But some of the things Dracula could do were real. He was more powerful than a hundred men, and he was faster than a race horse. But he could only survive off the blood of others. These were things Stoker was allowed to use in his tale to make it more believable. I wasn't one of those fortunate enough to meet Stoker, but I'm told he was a strange man who wanted every detail in his book to seem as real as possible."

I bowed my head, looking at the book in my hands and thinking of everything I'd seen already. I remembered the way Edward and Emmett had fought, and I remembered how fast Edward had gotten me back to the house afterward. He'd run even faster to my house the night before. I thought about Rosalie and how she always seemed to appear and disappear. They were all so cold and so beautiful. They never ate or drank anything, and after seeing Edward in the sun, I could understand why they'd left town for the few days they had. And their eyes seemed to change from various colors to black and then were suddenly colored again.

"It's all right, Keira," Edward said, easing his hand around my waist. "You're safe here. Trust me when I tell you we won't let any of the others hurt you now that you know."

I looked at him, thinking of everything that had happened so far and watching him bow his head before I looked at Carlisle. "How is this possible?" I pleaded.

He took the book from me, closing it and easing his hand over the cover. "This book was gift," he said with longing in his voice. "It was given to me by another vampire who knew Stoker. It was an unbound copy, made in 1896. Every now and then, I look through it, and I wonder how anyone could believe such fiction if it were true." He paused and gave the book to Edward, looking at me with a gentle grin on his face. "I was born in 1643, in London, England. My father was a pastor for the Church. While that in and of itself makes for interesting conversation, it was that very thing that led me to become what I am now." Again, he paused, rising and hurrying back to the second level of the library to put the book back before he returned within only a few seconds.

I could do nothing to hide my surprise, and Edward lifted his hand to my shoulder to soothe me.

"It's all right," he chuckled. "You know I'm much faster than that."

I blushed as Carlisle returned even though he didn't sit down, extending his hand to me.

"Come with me," he requested, pulling me to my feet and then guiding me up to the second floor slowly.

"My father was a God-fearing man," Carlisle said as we walked. "And as such, he was very black and white. He believed in evil and sought to destroy it, but in doing so, he actually ended up killing a lot of innocent people. When he grew old, he placed me in charge of his nightly sieges. Even back then, I had difficultly differentiating evil from fear. But I was much smarter than my father, and I was able to find a real creature he would have deemed evil. A vampire who had up to that point prowled the streets at night searching for food." He paused, stepping onto the second level. "Humans. I led a group of men into the sewers with the intention of killing the creature, but my intelligence only made it easier for him to attack us."

He stopped, stepping in front of the north wall of the floor where several paintings hung between the book shelves. One painting in the center seemed to recede into the wall slightly, and Carlisle continued softly as I looked over the landscape in the painting.

"The vampire I found was old and probably hadn't hunted for weeks," Carlisle revealed. "He could've gotten away, but he looked crazed. He attacked us, and I was his first victim. But he only bit me before moving on to two others and then escaping with a third. I was left in the streets bleeding."

I glanced at him, seeing a sad look on his face. "You must've been so scared," I said softly.

He looked at me like he hadn't expected me to say that, and I blushed for what felt like the millionth time.

"I knew what my father would do when he found out," he continued. "And when the transformation was complete, I began this new life despite knowing exactly what I was and what would happen to me when I met my death. I didn't want to kill anyone simply to survive, and I felt the only way to make amends was to die myself. I tried everything."

I glanced at Edward, discovering his head bowed solemnly, and then I looked at Carlisle. "You tried to kill yourself?" I asked, shocked that anyone as gentle and compassionate as Carlisle would ever dream doing such a thing.

"Many times," he confirmed. He paused for a few long seconds before continuing. "I knew I wasn't human anymore. I didn't want to hurt anyone, and I believed the only way to prevent anymore bloodshed was if I no longer lived. But nothing worked. No fall would break my bones or my body. No water would drown me. I even tried to hang myself. To no avail."

This time, he stopped, staring at the paintings in front of us, and I looked at them too, still having so many questions in my head. If Carlisle didn't want to hurt anyone, then how had he accomplished living the way he did now where he was so close to other people? How had he come back from the creature he'd been turned into to the warm, loving man I saw before me now? Edward stepped closer then, bringing my attention to the whereabouts of his hands as he now held my waist.

"A herd of deer crossed my path quite by accident," Carlisle continued after nearly a minute. "I was so hungry that I attacked without thinking. I realized then that I didn't have to kill people to survive, and as I was unable to dispose of myself, I sought to live in a way that would keep the people around me safe from what I was. I'd found my reason to continue living, to better myself from the creature who'd created me without any regard. I began to learn everything I could then, and I planned my journey during the days while studying through the night. I left England, swimming to the shores of France where I could further my studies on this new life."

Esme's soft footsteps came up the steps then, and she emerged from the stairwell with a tray of food and a pitcher of tea with a small grin on her face. "Sometimes, I think that oven wants to keep me waiting," she joked, coming closer and beckoning me to her as she set the tray over a small table near the opposite wall.

I followed her lead, sitting in a chair next to the table and looking through the variety of cakes she'd brought. I smelled lemon and cinnamon, and there was also chocolate and vanilla. I picked up one of the lemon cakes, and Esme poured me a glass of tea as Carlisle moved to the other chair while Edward remained stood up in front of the paintings.

"So what happened after you got to France?" I asked, turning to Carlisle as he grinned slightly.

"I continued my education," he began. "I traveled all through Europe, to all the universities. I studied music, science, medicine, and I discovered what I could do as penance for living as I did by saving human lives."

"Do you like being a doctor?" I asked softly, to which Edward turned and looked at me.

"I enjoy it very much," Carlisle chuckled. "Much more than I thought possible, and it's much more rewarding than anything I've ever done before."

"But how could you be around people without wanting to . . ." I stopped, bowing my head.

"Kill them?" Carlisle finished. I nodded. "Well, it wasn't easy. Human blood is very potent, especially to those of us who choose to continue surviving on it. But I abstained. Human life is precious, and I wanted to survive a different way. It took two centuries to perfect my self-control, and it was more torturous than you can possibly imagine. But I never faltered. There were more times than I can mention when I thought I wouldn't make it, and there were many times when I wanted to give in. But I didn't. Not in over 300 years."

I was stunned to hear him speak so candidly, and I was sure it was showing on my face. Of all the things I'd been expecting, this was nothing in the realm of what I could've imagined. Vampires. Not only that, but vampires who didn't kill humans. I'd read stories about these kinds of things, but after spending so much time with Edward and his family, it just didn't seem to make any sense. I couldn't imagine any of them being described as monsters or evil. They were all so kind and welcoming — even Rosalie.

Edward laughed softly, speaking gently. "She really won't like that," he commented.

It got quiet, and I looked up at Edward as he stood there with a little smile on his face. I noticed how different he looked now that I knew what he was, but I realized the only thing different was that he didn't have to hide anything from me anymore. I wasn't sure what that meant, but I knew I was glad he didn't have to keep anymore secrets from me.

The smile on Edward's face faded slightly, and he bowed his head. "Are you certain you want me to be completely honest with you?" he asked softly. "Because once that door has been opened, it can't be closed. And the more you know, the less safe you'll become over time. The others out there who do kill people will see you as nothing more than a trophy. They won't see you the way I do. They'll only want to take you from . . . your family. Your friends. They'll only want to take your life."

I stood up from my chair and moved to his side. "And you'll protect me," I told him. "Just like you did yesterday. I know you won't let anything happen to me. And now I won't let anything happen to you. Any of you."

He grinned again, glancing at Carlisle, and Esme spoke when no one else did.

"Well, let us hope that will never be necessary," she declared.

Instantly, I was reminded of why we'd come to the house so early, and Carlisle stood from his chair after half a minute.

"So, it was other vampires who killed those campers," I said. "And now they're in town somewhere. That's why you wanted to bring me out here before school ended."

"Yes," Carlisle said. "Over the years, we've encountered others, but never like this. We live closer to Humans, and that makes it more difficult for those of us who do feed from Humans to confront us."

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"Because of the law," Edward said.

I grinned unconsciously. "Vampires have laws?" I inquired.

"One specifically," Edward nodded.

"And what is that?"

"That we keep the existence of our kind a secret," Carlisle informed me. "It's the one law that is enforced regularly by the Volturi."

"The what?" I asked, looking at Edward.

At that point, Carlisle extended his hand and gestured to another painting that was much bigger than the landscape I'd looked at only moments earlier.

"I was in Italy when I discovered other vampires," Carlisle began again. "They were far more civilized and educated than the one who attacked me."

I lifted my eyes to the painting, gazing at the four figures standing on the highest balcony while chaos went on below them. The closer I looked, the more I recognized the golden-haired man. I looked at Carlisle, seeing him with a sad smile on his face.

"My aversion to killing Humans amused them," Carlisle commented. He gestured to the other three men in the painting, two dark-haired, one brilliant white. "Aro, Marcus and Caius. The Volturi. I was only with them a short time, a few decades perhaps, but it was a learning experience. There was so much I learned from them, and there was so much they learned from me, but I was somewhat of an oddity to them. Aro, their leader, he was constantly attempting to persuade me into doing as they did. But I value human life. There are so many more vampires who prey on Humans. It's so much more important to me that they be protected from our world, and now that, by extension, includes you and your family and quite possibly everyone you've ever known."

I glanced at Edward, noticing how his head was hung, and I remembered what he'd said while we'd still been in school. "But Edward said they would only smell me," I told Carlisle, "because I've been around you the most."

Carlisle also bowed his head. "That is, for the most part, very true. You are in much more danger than your parents or your brothers. But if the others in town find you, the very next thing they'll do is go after those of your family who have interacted with us, however minimal."

I suddenly remember Abigail, and Edward turned me to face him.

"I'll keep all of you safe," he promised me. "Emmett and Rosalie will help — even if she won't like it."

"But aren't they all in danger now?" I pleaded. "If I'm here with you and those other vampires are in town."

"No, it won't happen like that," he insisted. "They've smelled us, and they'll come to us first. I wanted you to be prepared if they find you without me, but I won't let that happen no matter what I have to do. I swear."

"It won't come to that," Carlisle added. "We're the only vampires in the area, and they'll be curious about us. Just as I was curious about the Volturi. It's possible we'll be able to diffuse any hostility that has already arisen, but you need to be prepared for anything that might happen."

"It's like I said," Edward reminded me. "I'll be with you until it's safe."

"This won't be easy, Edward," Carlisle interrupted. "You should've been more careful, but because you weren't, it's put Keira in more danger than necessary. It isn't just about these vampires in the area. If the Volturi discovered her knowledge of our world, it would open up a new variety of problems that no one would be able to prevent. You know this, and now we'll all have to be very careful."

Edward sighed softly, still facing me as he glanced at Carlisle and then pulling me to the stairs. I glanced back at Carlisle and Esme, but I didn't say anything as Edward led me up to the third level of the library and then opened a door that revealed the inside of a large corner room with windows that lined the walls and gave me one of the most beautiful views I'd ever seen in my life.

"This is my room," Edward said.

I looked at the room as completely as I could. While the outer walls were lightly decorated with a large desk and a beige lounge chair, the inner walls were lined with four tall shelves laden with books and vinyl records. It looked like there was just as many books here as there were downstairs on the first level of the library. It took me a few minutes to realize something that should've been obvious.

"There's no bed," I pointed out.

Edward laughed softly, and I turned to see him lingering near the door. "No, I, uh, I don't sleep."

"Ever?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. Never. None of us do."

"So what do you do at night?"

He stepped closer to me, looking over my robe and causing me to wrap my arms around my chest. "I read," he said gesturing to the shelves of books. "I write. Sometimes, I listen to music. But mostly, I think."

"About what?"

"All kinds of things," he revealed. "After nearly 30 years as a vampire, I've probably spent enough time thinking of what my life would've been like were I not a vampire. I've probably thought too many nights on what it means to be what I am. It hasn't been an easy existence, but . . ." he stopped, bowing his head.

"But what?" I pressed.

He took another step toward me, taking my hands in his and then lifting his eyes to mine. "I've never met anyone like you," he said softly. "And believe me when I say that, because it's true. But I didn't want to put you in danger this way. I tried to avoid you, but you wouldn't go away. Now I don't know what to do. But I won't let anything happen to you. I won't let anyone hurt you. No matter what I have to do."

The gravity of his words was enough to send a set of chills through me, and even though I'd never met anyone like him either, I knew I was too young to be thinking what I was thinking. I blushed again, embarrassed, and he laughed softly.

"I don't think I could've found anyone more innocent than you," he commented. "And it's for that reason that I will protect you."

For several more seconds, it was quiet as we stood in the middle of his room, and I started to think about how much time had passed since I'd been here. It was still light out, but with Edward's windows facing away from the western horizon, I couldn't see the sun setting. It was cloudy outside, threatening rain for the night and probably the next morning, and I focused on that for the moment.

A thought came to me then, and I spoke spontaneously.

"Have you always been with Carlisle?" I asked softly.

"Almost always," he said, guiding me to the lounge chair and sitting down with me.

His pause was enough to pique my curiosity, and I scooted closer to him. "What happened?" I asked him.

"I wasn't always the, um, reserved boy you thought I was when we first met," he said gently. "I suppose you could say I went through the typical growing pains anyone in a new life would. I was quite rebellious for someone with my upbringing. About ten years after I was . . . created, I'd become somewhat resentful towards Carlisle and his life of abstinence. And I thought I could make it on my own for a little while."

He paused again, sitting with his hands folded in front of him and his head hung the way it had been earlier. I thought about what he was saying, and for some reason, it made me think about Fisher and how he wanted to go off on his own when he was old enough. I could imagine Edward alone on a deserted street, maybe hunting, maybe sticking to the shadows, but alone, and I didn't like how that image played out in my head.

"You have no idea how close you are," he said quietly. "You see, I can hear what a person's thinking from sometimes several dozens of feet away, and I thought that if I picked those criminals who were stalking the innocent people that it would somehow make up for what I was or what I did. I thought perhaps if I rid the world of what it perceived as evil that I in turn would be granted absolution for whatever sins I'd perpetrated. They say no good deed goes unpunished, and they're right. Did you know that when a vampire feeds off of Human blood, his eyes turn into rubies?"

Unconsciously, I shivered, shaking my head.

He hung his head again, sitting up straight and staring off into the floor. "It only lasted a few years before I returned to Carlisle. I thought I could rid myself of the feelings that accompanied having a conscience, but as time went on, I began to see the monster I'd become. And I had to go back before I lost every piece of humanity I had left. I was afraid they would be disappointed in me, but Carlisle and Esme — they welcomed me back with open arms. It was more than I deserved."

Slowly, I extended my hand, touching his face again and making him look at me. I was surprised to see how much it looked like he could be crying, but there were no tears. He lifted his hand to mine, and for several more seconds, we only sat there. I tried to think about how difficult this was for him — telling me something that could potentially get me into more trouble than I'd ever been in my life even as short as it was.

"You're more human than any other boy I've ever known," I told him softly. "And I think the important part of your story is that you did come back. If you hadn't, I wouldn't have met you, and I promise you, this is definitely something I'll tell my children."

He took my hand in his, holding it in his and seeming to collect his thoughts before he spoke again. "You would really tell your children that you met an animal-killing vampire who had to protect you from all the human-killing vampires he ever encountered?" After a few seconds, he grinned.

I blushed again. "No. Silly. I would tell them I met the most amazing young man, someone who was kind and gentle and probably saved my life even though he would never have admitted it. He was so hard on himself, and he always tried to do the right thing."

He laughed softly. "That sounds much better," he chuckled.

"I mean it," I pressed. "It's okay. It doesn't take absolution for you to know that you were only doing what you thought was right. It's very human of you."

If he could've blushed at that moment, I think he would have, and he turned his attention to the horizon outside as it got darker. Even though I knew I would need to get home soon, I felt like we could sit there for another few hours. At least until Edward's hands tightened around mine. And I knew something was wrong.

"What's happening?" I asked softly.

He moved his finger to my lips, shaking his head and telling me to be quiet without saying a word. He pulled me to the door and then out into the bright white hall before we moved to the stairs. His ears were picking up on something I couldn't hear, but the closer to the second floor we got, the more I realized what was happening.

The other vampire.

We met Emmett and Rosalie on the second landing, and they immediately turned to go downstairs in front of us. Edward held my hand tighter, keeping me behind him as we walked and keeping me as close as he could without appearing possessive. I wasn't really worried about that. The more connected to him I looked, the more I hoped this other vampire would leave me alone.

"It might be too late for that," Edward whispered apologetically. "But just stay with me. We'll protect you. I promise."

I said nothing as we walked, wrapping my other hand around his arm.

Finally, we made it to the first landing, able to see into the foyer as Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie all stood in front of a tall, dark-blond haired youngman in what appeared to be a black suit. He looked to be a little older than me, maybe 19 or20. His hair was curly but not unattractively so, and despite his pale complexion, there was a hard set in his jaw and a gleam in his eyes. Edward stopped in the middle of the staircase, pushing me behind him further, but I looked around him, watching as Carlisle and the man spoke. Even from where I was, I could see this man wasn't like Edward and his family.

"I truly hope I didn't cause you too much distress," the man said, glancing at Edward and then me. "I had no idea another coven was in the area."

"Yes," Carlisle said, "well, we've only been here a short time, but we try to keep a low profile. I'm afraid your hunting activities have caused somewhat of a problem for us."

Again, the man glanced at Edward and me. "Then allow me to apologize. I suppose it was rude of me to presume I was alone here. I should've checked my immediate surroundings. You have a beautiful home. Much more so than I would've expected. All the others I've met could only dream of having such amenities."

"For that, I have my wife to thank," Carlisle gestured to Esme. "She's spent the last several months getting everything together. Are you traveling alone, Mr. Shaw?"

"Actually, no," he replied. "And please, call me Connor."

Carlisle finally seemed to realize Connor's interest in me and Edward, turning slightly to see us and then speaking casually. "My other son, Edward," he announced. "And his friend."

I noticed how careful Carlisle was not to say my name, but I could only stare at this new visitor as he inhaled deeply and grinned in a not-so-friendly way.

"It's very nice to meet you all," Connor said, appearing to overlook the fact that I was the only one whose name he didn't know. "And again, I apologize. We were just passing through."

"It's quite all right," Carlisle said, his voice cordial even though his whole body was tensed up.

"Of course, if I'd known there were other vampires in the area with a pet, I would've introduced myself sooner."

Something set Edward off instantly as he pushed me behind him completely, and it sounded like a growl escaped his chest even while Carlisle attempted to keep control of the situation.

"She isn't our pet," he told Connor. "She's Edward's friend. And she's here of her own free will. It would be helpful to you if you don't presume to know our situation here. Perhaps it would be best if we spoke in private, Connor."

Carlisle gestured to the library where I'd just been, and even though Connor kept his eyes on me and Edward, he nodded and followed Carlisle away from the foyer into the library. As soon as they were gone, Edward turned and lifted me in his arms to hurry back upstairs. Esme and Emmett seemed to follow him quickly, and we were inside Esme's room inside another half a minute.

"Change," Edward commanded, the calm gone from his voice and surprisingly replaced with a strong undercurrent of possession. "And then we're leaving."

I didn't argue, and Esme replaced him with my dried clothes in her arms, handing them to me and then shooing Edward and Emmett into the hallway. My heart was already thundering inside my chest, and I was sure Connor could hear it. But I could do nothing to stop it.

* * *

**So. New vampire in town. And he appears to be very interested in Edward and Keira. I tried to make him a little more civilized that Laurent, James and Victoria, and I wanted his encounter with the family to be a little different from Twilight. But he's bringing trouble with him. So stay tuned.**

**And again, I wanted Carlisle's explanation to be a little different from Edward's, but I still had to keep a lot of the elements the same, and it wasn't easy. So I hope I did a good job.**

**Until next time!  
**


	11. Reeducation

**It's about that time again! Especially since I've found a way to get around those crazy errors on FanFiction. ;-)**

**We're moving right along here, and we're also about halfway through here, so any questions, comments or concerns you might have should be brought up now before we move on passed a point of no return.**

**I hope everyone who reads likes what they read, and hopefully, we're not delving too deep into uncharted territory.**

**Enjoy!  
**

* * *

_**Re-education**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

When I woke up a few days later on Saturday morning, I still couldn't believe everything that had happened. I couldn't believe what I'd learned and what I'd seen. I still had trouble wrapping my mind around the series of revelations that had developed just over a couple of days. And I didn't know exactly how I was supposed to be reacting. I didn't really like being reactive. My grandmother had always told me it was more important to be proactive. I wanted to be like that now, but I had nothing to compare this to so I could do the right things or even think the right things. It was . . . frustrating.

A soft chuckle reached my ears from my desk, and I looked behind me to see Edward there where he'd been the night before. The dim light from outside just barely lit my room, but I could see him perfectly. He'd told me a few things over the last few days to explain his strange behavior over the course of the last couple of months. His eyes changed color because of his hunting patterns, and now that I knew that, I could see his eyes dark green, bordering on a deep forest green. It was difficult to see much green in his eyes, but I could still see a thin rim of brilliant emerald around the edge of his iris as the black only halfway intruded on his natural eye color.

He stood up from his seated position then, the movement instantaneous and more fluid than any movement he'd made since the day we'd met, and I paid more attention to the way he moved than I had in two months. He sat at my side within a split second, his demeanor relaxed and easy, and he leaned close with his hands flat against the mattress beneath me.

"We should work on how you can hide your thoughts from me," he whispered softly. "You might want to surprise me one day."

I blushed at his closeness, slightly embarrassed as I laid beneath him in nothing but my nightgown. He sat up straight then, and I followed, facing him as the inside of my room continued to brighten with the muted light of dawn.

"It's just after seven in the morning," he informed me. "I'll go back to my house to change, and Emmett and I will pick you up at eight on the nose. Is that enough time for you to dress and eat breakfast?"

"What are we doing today?" I asked, instead of answering.

"It's Saturday," he reminded me.

Absently, I bit my lip. "What about — "

"I'm not going to let another vampire in the area stop us from keeping up our schedule," he swore. "And Emmett's going to come with us to keep an eye on the area while we're exploring. There's still a lot of woods for us to look through, and now that you know certain things about me, I can show you something I haven't been able to show anyone in a very long time."

His attention shifted, and I knew he was listening to the sounds outside my room. After only a couple of seconds, he stood and shifted to the window. "I'll be back," he promised, slipping through the window with a natural ease, and then he was gone.

My door opened probably ten seconds after Edward left, allowing Fisher to poke his head inside my room with a tired expression on his face. Since watching me leave school with Edward, Fisher had become a little curious about the time I'd been spending with Edward, and he'd started asking a lot more questions about Edward's family. He didn't ever ask about that afternoon, and he'd never really said so much that he didn't want me around Edward anymore. I knew he was worried, but he trusted me. He just didn't trust Edward as much as I would've liked.

"Hey," he said softly. "How'd you sleep?"

"Okay," I replied, to which he smiled slightly.

"Come down for breakfast when you're ready," he offered.

I nodded. "All right."

He stepped out, closing the door, and I rose from bed, hurrying to the window to see if Edward was still outside. I wasn't surprised to see him gone. He was probably already on his way home to change. And with that, I moved to my closet to find clothes for the day.

I had to remind myself to wear my rubber boots since it had rained the day before, and I found an old pair of pants to wear so it wouldn't matter if I got dirty. Edward had been so cautious on Thursday and Friday, and Emmett had been just as much, keeping me and most of my family in their sight most of the day. Rosalie begrudgingly kept an ear out for Kyle, and even that was a stretch for her. I remembered what Edward had said about her not liking change, and even though I had thought I understood how she felt, there were still moments when I felt like she resented me for causing her to protect any human from another vampire — even a human who had no idea she was doing it. I made sure Emmett told her how grateful I was, but he said it just upset her more.

Kyle, Fisher and my parents were all sitting at the dining room table with breakfast when I came down dressed for the woods, and I was immediately aware of my mother's face lighting up when she remembered what today was. She liked Edward — or rather, she liked how he behaved. She was still talking like I was being courted like when my father had begun dating her, and it was pointless to dissuade her from her musings. My father was a little more cautious. He agreed with me that I was too young for any of that. I could see how it still worried him that I was gone all day ever Saturday even though he knew nothing would happen to me while I was gone. His concern helped me tolerate Kyle's apparent disinterest in the time I spent with Edward and his family, and Fisher was, well, Fisher.

My father lifted his eyes to mine as I entered the room and sat down at the table, and Kyle smirked when he saw how I was dressed. My lined coat was still hung up by the door, and my gloves were stuffed into the pockets of my pullover. I said nothing to him despite the need I felt to defend my attire. Fisher passed a platter of eggs to me without saying anything, but there were so many questions in his eyes.

"You look well-rested this morning, sweetheart," my mother commented, taking a fork and laying two pancakes on the plate in front of her before she passed it to Kyle.

"I am well-rested," I assured her, taking the platter of pancakes to get my own food and then giving the platter to Fisher.

"Still going to Edward's today?" my father asked me.

"Yes," I said softly.

It was quiet around the table for a couple of minutes, and for a brief moment, I thought I'd escaped the firing squad. And then Kyle opened his mouth over his eggs and bacon.

"Exactly how much stuff do you plan on using for your science project anyway?" he asked, sipping his orange juice and eyeing me suspiciously as though I deserved it.

My father looked at me over his own plate, and then Fisher followed his gaze. My mother seemed to be the only one who could control her comments and her eyes. I tried not to panic, remembering everything Edward and I had done so far and knowing we had plenty of material to do better than anyone else in the class.

And just when I thought I was going to falter, I looked at Kyle and spoke as honestly as I could. "We'll be gathering as much 'stuff' as we need to do a good project," I countered. "And if we have to continue working passed the beginning of the holidays, then we will. Or until it's too wet and cold for us to not get sick. Since you don't really care about school, I don't see how you should be worried about it at this point."

He stared at me for a few seconds, probably not expecting me to quip back so quickly. He lifted his thick eyebrows dramatically, still sipping his juice. " 'Scuse me," he scoffed. "Just asking."

I asked to be excused early so I could get everything ready for when Edward came with Emmett. I didn't really need anything, but after spending all of breakfast under the watchful eyes of the men in my family, I was desperate to get away from them. My mother excused me without saying anything to my father, and as soon as I got to my room, I sat over my bed with the deepest sigh of my life. I paused from the apparent mundaneness that had become my life, thinking of all the things I now knew about the boy I would be spending time with today.

Edward was a vampire. He could read my thoughts, but he said even though a couple of months had passed, he still hadn't figured me out. I wasn't sure what that meant, and even though I'd made a mental note to read on my own what the outside world believed about what he was, I'd never been more willing to accept something in my life. Since my grandmother had passed away, I'd been so turned off to the idea of change that accepting anything new had been so far off in the distance that it seemed impossible. But after spending time with Edward and learning things about him that had nothing to do with him being a vampire, I was positive that no matter what might lie ahead of me, Edward would be there to keep me safe. Regardless of his instincts telling him to be a killer, I knew just by the look in his eyes and the light in his spirit that he was anything but a killer. I honestly trusted him with my life, and that was . . . a little scary.

A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts as my mother opened the door with a smile on her face, and I knew why she was there before she spoke.

"Edward and Emmett are here," she said softly.

I stood up slowly. "Okay."

She stepped out, and I inhaled deeply, finding my scarf and then lifting my hand to the pendant around my neck that had been my grandmother's. I had been thinking of her a lot over the last few days, and I couldn't help but wonder what she was think of all this. I wondered if, like me, she would have trusted herself to make the right decisions for everyone involved. I believed I could do that now, and even though I had a lot more thinking to do where everyone else was concerned, I wasn't worried about Edward anymore. Truth be told, I was looking forward to seeing him again. And with that, I stepped out of my room to make my way downstairs where he was waiting for me.

The first thing I noticed about him was how worried he looked in contrast to how playful he'd been before leaving. And when he saw that I noticed, the expression on his face became more forced than any he'd ever had before. I knew he didn't want my mother or father to see anything wrong, and I tried to mirror his demeanor, but it wasn't easy. I was immediately thinking about why we were having to be so cautious, and I remembered his behavior upon discovering the other vampire's presence in the area. Connor's face flashed through my mind, and Edward immediately changed his posture, standing up straight and glancing at Emmett as I arrived at the bottom of the stairs.

"Well, it looks like it's going to be a lovely day as soon as all these dreadful clouds evaporate from the sky," my mother gushed, smiling at me as I moved to Edward's side slowly.

"Yes, we're hoping to get a few more items for our project before the weather becomes too cold," Edward smiled, and she blushed.

"We should get going," Emmett said, stepping back to the front door, and Edward took my lined coat from the rack next to the door. He helped me pull it on, and after a smile in my mother's direction, they both guided me out the front door with a wave to my parents.

It was a little cooler today than it had been the day before. Autumn was moving right along, and Winter was right around the corner. Edward had been anticipating a chance of rain today and tomorrow, but he still wanted to stick to our schedule as closely as possible. The air was heavy with moisture as we walked to where Emmett had parked his car, and I was worried we might not be able to do anything today.

"It won't rain until later this afternoon," Edward assured me. "Plenty of time for us to look around."

He opened the front passenger door for me, and I slid in before he followed as Emmett eased into the driver's seat to pull out of the my driveway. Once we were on the street and away from my house, I spoke softly.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Edward tried to smile as he sat beside me. "Everything's fine," he lied, instantly frowning when he realized I knew he was.

"I saw your face," I informed him. "And you've been so cautious. Is something happening?"

He glanced at Emmett, and I knew they were communicating silently without allowing me into their conversation. Edward looked at me then, probably having heard everything I'd just thought, and he sighed heavily.

"It's the other vampire," he said softly. "He was at the house when I got back this morning. It seems he's changed his mind about simply passing through the area. I know he's not alone. He's keeping whoever is with him away, but I know it's simply a matter of time."

"Was he there when you left?" I asked, unable to prevent my heart from leaping into my throat.

Edward hesitated, answering my question without speaking, and I realized he was now holding onto me much tighter than he had been a few moments earlier.

"We're not going to the house though," Emmett said after half a minute. "Or you're not."

"Then where are we going?" I inquired curiously.

Neither of them spoke as Emmett pulled through town toward the road leading to his house, and my curiosity intensified as Emmett pulled on to the side of the road about five miles from their house. Edward stepped out and reached in for me, prompting me to follow him even though I had no idea what was going on or why we were getting out of the car before we were all the way there. Emmett smiled as Edward closed the door.

"See you in a few," he promised, and Edward took my hand to pull me off into the trees on the side of road.

I watched Emmett speed away for as long as I could see him, but when he disappeared around a bend in the road, I turned my attention to Edward as he pulled me through the trees.

"Edward, what's going on?" I pleaded.

Again, he hesitated, but I could see it wasn't because he didn't want me to know. The further along the forest floor we walked, the more I realized it was because he was trying to keep me from being around Connor. "With him at the house, he's already been able to take your scent the way I did. The difference between me and him is that I don't intend on detaching you from everything you know and care about the way I saw in his mind upon our first meeting." He stopped then, turning to face me instantly. "He's a true predator, Keira," he warned me. "He's as old as Carlisle, and he's been hunting humans from the moment he opened his eyes into this life. The moment he saw you, the first thing he thought about was hunting you and making you his. But he's lived this long, and he realized he would have to get through me before he even laid a hand on you."

Despite the cold, I knew I was blushing deep red as my pulse increased by tenfold. The way Edward spoke made it sound like if this other vampire couldn't have me, then he would make it impossible for my life to be normal ever again.

"It's all right," Edward assured me. "I won't let him hurt you or your family. No matter what Rosalie thinks or believes, I _will_ protect you."

I realized how dangerous it was for me to go back to the house and that Edward was doing everything he could think of to keep me safe from anything that would threaten me and my family. I looked around where we'd stopped, wanting to see something in the trees but only seeing what I expected. The world looked different now, even if only slightly and still hidden to most everyone else I'd ever known.

"Don't worry," Edward pleaded. "Emmett's going to meet us in the woods after he leaves his car at the house. Carlisle decided to air out the house, and the wind and rain will take care of the rest. Come with me," he requested, reaching for my hands. "I want to show you something."

Despite there still being so many things left to be revealed, I decided he was right. It wasn't right to let someone, even another vampire, determine if we did or didn't do whatever we'd had planned for the day before he'd shown up. I bowed my head to Edward, and he pulled me along the forest floor in the direction of his house.

Though I was expecting Emmett to show up within minutes of leaving us by the side of the road, for nearly half an hour, it was just me and Edward. I still felt as safe with him as I always had, but the further into the woods we got, and the heavier the air become, the more I really was worried about it raining. Weather was unpredictable, and even if Edward had a better sense of smell than I did, things could change so fast. And even if he was stronger than anyone I'd ever known, he was still vulnerable. Being around me made him a little less aware of his surroundings some times, and I didn't want that to happen today.

"Is there nothing I can do to assure you of my abilities?" he asked as we walked. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

I sighed softly, remembering everything he'd said and wondering what he'd meant about Carlisle airing out the house. Surely it wasn't that simply. I'd been going to his house for weeks, and not just in the library.

"Carlisle won't let him into any other parts of the house," Edward insisted. "He knows how much your safety means to me, and it's not just about how dangerous this is for all of us. With other vampires in the area, it makes our existence even more perilous because of the way they move. We keep to ourselves, and that nearly always makes us look guilty in most human eyes."

"Do you know why he's staying?" I asked of Connor. "Is it really because of me?"

"There are a large number of reasons why he's chosen not to leave," Edward revealed. "He's only encountered vampires who feed on Humans. We're the first ones he's met who feed on animals. He's curious about us, but mostly me and my connection to you. Carlisle said he reminds him of when he was with the Volturi. We're oddities to him. Nothing more."

"And what about me?" I inquired softly.

Edward stopped then, facing me again even though he didn't say anything for several seconds. "He thinks I've put some sort of spell on you," he said gently. "It's the way we draw in our prey. Everything about us invites you in — or most of you," he smirked. I smirked back. "The way we look, the way we smell, the way we sound. At least, those of us who feed on humans. For my family and I, hunting animals allows us to retain what little of our humanity we have left. There are some of us — like Rosalie — who clutch our human memories so tightly to ourselves that letting go is sometimes nearly impossible."

I stepped closer to him, absently laying my hands over his chest and feeling his hands cradling my arms. "And what about your memories?" I asked. "Do you remember being human anymore?"

He hesitated again, his eyes distant as he looked down with his chin tucked into his chest. It looked like I'd asked him something he hadn't expected, and immediately, I tried to change the subject.

"When is Emmett supposed to be here?" I asked.

"I remember my mother," he revealed as I finished my question. "Carlisle would tell me about her when it was just the two of us. She was very warm and very beautiful. He said I had her eyes and her hair. I became ill before she, and she tried to tend to me while becoming ill herself. Carlisle said she was strong up to the last breath, and it was for that reason — for her — that he changed me. To save me. But I don't remember my father much other than when he was close to dying. He was the first one to pass," he explained, compelling me to lean into him a little more. Then he continued. "Human memories fade naturally. We make newer, brighter memories as time passes. There are only a few things about my human life I can still remember very clearly. It _was_ thirty years ago. And certain things were expected in this life that replaced the memories I could remember best."

"Like what?" I asked softly.

This time when he hesitated, I knew it was because he was thinking. "Well, my mother and father both loved me very much. We were what you would call affluent even back then. My father wanted me to be a lawyer like he was. My mother only wanted me to be happy. She wanted me to find a nice girl and get married." The smile that had developed across his face faded slightly. "All I wanted was to enlist the moment I was old enough."

He paused again, looking around at the trees and easing his hand into mine to pull me along. Then he continued. "When Carlisle and I began this life together — before he found Esme — he was like my father, even then. He taught me everything he'd learned and allowed me to use that knowledge to decide what I wanted to do with my life as it were. I still had blurry memories of my own father, but there was nothing I could do to fix what had gone wrong in my life. The decision had been made for me."

We walked a little further, and it was clear he was waiting for Emmett before we got too involved in our wanderings.

"What about Esme?" I nudged, to which he smiled.

"I couldn't have asked for a better surrogate mother than Esme," he mused. "She's by far the most loving and understanding person I've ever had the privilege to know — present company excluded. She was . . . dying when Carlisle found her — the second time anyway. They met once before, when she was sixteen."

"What happened?" I asked, more curious about this than any other story I'd ever been told in my entire life.

He laughed softly. "It was before he found me. He was living near her, working nights at a local hospital, and she came in with a broken leg. He said she was so beautiful, even then, and so passionate. He says now that's why she's such an amazing mother. He left that place not long after seeing her, but Esme says she never forgot about him. Who would forget a man who looked and sounded like everything you've ever wanted and needed?"

We walked along another few dozen feet, and without any warning, there was a break in the trees, opening up into a small clearing. It was already the middle of Autumn, so the grass was nearly all brown, and the few green spots were being overpowered by the weather, but somehow in my mind, I could see flowers and thick green grass soft enough to lay on. I remembered a clearing near my grandmother's house just like this one that I would go to whenever I wanted to be alone.

"Well, you wouldn't want to be alone out here," Edward commented, still walking through the clearing. "The local tribes wouldn't be too thrilled about us being here, but there's something I want you to see."

There was a natural rock formation on the other side of the clearing, and as soon as we were there, he turned to me and reached for me.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, much like he had a few days earlier.

"I do," I assured him.

With little else, he took my arm, slinging me onto his back and prompting me to hold him as tightly as I could before he began climbing a tree less than five feet away. The movement made me kind of nauseous, and it took a couple of minutes for him to stop, but once he did, he set me down against a tree branch and laughed softly as I'd closed my eyes the instant he began climbing.

"Open your eyes," he whispered, almost too softly for me to hear him.

Slowly, I peeled my eyelids back, realizing how high up we were and grasping onto the first thing I could which just happened to be him as he sat leisurely in front of me next to another tree limb.

"Oh, God," I breathed, unconsciously smiling as the horizon spread out around us.

He laughed again, looking around with me. "Not half bad, is it?" he chuckled softly.

"It's beautiful!" I declared, laughing myself.

"It's also not that bad of a hiding place," he added.

I turned my attention back to him, noticing the playful grin again on his face, and I was intrigued. "Hiding?" I repeated. "From what?"

He didn't answer me for probably a minute, changing the subject smoothly. "You know, we have plenty of material for our Science project," he informed me, turning his eyes to mine and causing an unfamiliar reaction as my heart began to race. "And Carlisle can help us put all of it together with his knowledge of the area."

I was sure I was blushing, and I absently lifted my hand to my throat. "But then what will we do for the next month and a half?" I wondered.

"Well, we _are_ friends," he reminded me. "There are other ways for us to spend time together. Instead of needing to hike around for samples for our project, we could just hike around."

My blush deepened in a way it never had before, and just as I was about to speak, a loud, booming voice drifted up to where we were sitting.

"Are you two makin' out up there or somethin'?" It was Emmett. He'd finally caught up to us after leaving his car at the house.

Edward sighed audibly, something he'd rarely done since we'd met, and with just a nod, he beckoned me onto his back. Less than a couple of minutes later, he landed on the ground about ten feet from where Emmett had stopped, placing me on the ground gently and then eyeing Emmett reproachfully. I knew they were having a silent conversation like they had in the car, but this one was playful, like the kind of conversation two brothers might have.

"Let's go," Emmett said, adding with a smile, "before anything exciting happens."

With that, we all started off back into the trees to make our way in the general direction of the house.

Edward and I walked and looked and picked all along the way while Emmett made himself practically invisible. If I hadn't seen him off to the side of our makeshift path, I wouldn't have known he was there. Every time we stopped, he would stop and look at everything. He would smell the air and listen out as far as he could. I could see he was trying to detect something unnatural about our surroundings. He was trying to see Connor — or the other vampire nearby. I never saw anything out of the ordinary, nor did I feel anything wrong about where we were or what might happen if we were out too long.

I realized after several stops and an abundance of samples that Emmett and Edward were communicating silently the entire time, and every time Emmett thought he heard and smelled something, we would move on to a new spot. I tried to see or hear or smell what they were, but there was nothing — nothing except the rocks, bark and wood we'd collected that Edward had packed with the sample papers he'd had tucked away in his jacket. And it was a stretch to smell that since the air continued to get heavier with the approaching rain. I wondered how long we could be out before the need to go inside became more desirable.

She came out of the trees without so much as a warning, her shimmering curly red hair barely touched her exposed shoulders and her brilliant maroon eyes nearly matching the color of her hair. She was dressed like a business woman from the city, her black pants tight-fitting and her cream-colored shirt wrapped around her waist with the neckline lowered from her shoulders to reveal gleaming white skin more translucent than anyone else's I'd ever seen.

Edward and Emmett were immediately on point, hiding me between them as Emmett took point and Edward nearly crushed me into his side. She smiled at their reaction, stepping closer as she wore a distinctively high pair of heels unlike any I'd ever seen in my life. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, and she was very beautiful. Her smile was more dazzling than any smile I'd ever seen. And the closer she got, the more beautiful she became. Edward turned my face away from hers, cradling me into him, and the spell she'd begun to weave over me faded instantly. I realized everything he'd said was true — especially with vampires who hunted humans. Then she spoke.

"Beautiful day for a walk isn't it?" Her voice sounded like an instrument. It was so fluid and smooth. Not like warm honey or even cool mint, but enticing nonetheless. She had a woman's voice, strong and articulated and somewhat playful. There was a tenor in her voice that exuded self-confidence and power, and I couldn't remember ever hearing a woman sound that way. Instantly, I shivered, and Edward held me tighter.

"I'm sorry," she smiled. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"You're the other vampire," Edward concluded. "You're the one he was hiding."

She was closer now, less than thirty or forty feet from Emmett, and her laugh played with the little hairs on the back of my neck. "You've met Connor, I presume," she acknowledged. "He always was so cautious. I suppose that's why I was drawn to him. Please excuse my manners. My name is Piper."

Neither Emmett nor Edward moved to greet her, and even though it should've been rude for them to behave that way, she didn't seem to be offended. If anything else, I actually felt Edward take a small step backward with me still inside his arm.

"A little skiddish for greeting another of your kind, don't you think?" she asked, laughing softly. "I won't hurt you. I promised Connor I would leave the area before I fed again."

At that, I realized why her eyes were so brilliant. It had been nearly a week since the campers had been found, and she'd obviously decided to kill again. Edward's arm tensed, and Emmett glanced back at him only slightly before returning his attention to her.

"I know who you are," she revealed. "Connor told me about you. Animal-blood drinkers. Intriguing. He told me about your pet as well, though from here, she looks like much more than that. I suppose you're reacting to the belief that I would wish her harm. Please forgive the implication."

Edward spoke clearly, warning her carefully. "Then perhaps it wouldn't have been wise to happen upon us in the middle of the forest. Doing so has only intensified our protectiveness of her and ourselves. And perhaps you should leave and not return to this place ever again."

I chanced a peek at her face, seeing her still grinning as she lowered her eyes to mine. "Perhaps you're right. I apologize. I suppose I'll be seeing you around," she taunted, stepping back onto her heels and then shooting into the trees just as suddenly as she'd appeared from them.

Edward didn't relax. Emmett didn't unclench his fists or his jaws. For nearly four or five seconds, nothing happened as they listened and smelled and watched. I strained to do what they were doing, but I sensed nothing different about our surroundings the way they did. And suddenly, Edward lifted me in his arms, prompting me to hold onto him as he clutched me to his chest and shot off into the trees in the opposite direction of where she'd gone. Emmett followed immediately, and I shut my eyes to keep from getting sick again.

The wind whistled passed us as he ran, and there was no hesitation in his stride as he made an unplanned path through the trees toward his house. I didn't have to ask him where we were going. It was obvious the appearance of Piper in the forest had startled him as much as it had me, despite his senses being stretched out as far as he could get them. I knew from his behavior that she'd surprised him more unexpectedly than he'd thought possible, and I knew from how tight he was holding me that it scared him more than anything ever had. That in and of itself scared me more than I'd ever been in my life.

* * *

**So now we've met both new vampires. I wanted them to be a little different from the nomads in Twilight, and I hope I achieved that. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.**

**I'm hoping the get the next chapter started soon, so we'll get to see what Edward thinks of all these new happenings. **

**I'd like to know what you think. ;-)**

**Anyhoo. Until next time!  
**


	12. Reeducation 2

**_We're getting a little further along, and things are about to get a little more interesting. At least, I think so. Though I haven't gotten much of a response for this story, and I can understand the reluctance to accept an OC, I still want to finish this for the sake of the people who've read so far._**

**_We're also delving a little more into Edward's world with this part. But I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible with a few human activities. If you read, I hope you like it._**

**_Read on!  
_**

* * *

_**Re-education**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

Emmett ran ahead of me with only a glance in my direction, and for once, I let him. He wanted to make sure the house was clear, and I agreed with him on that note completely. With Keira in my arms, it was easy to let him speed ahead of me, and I kept an eye on his thoughts in the event that our "guest" was still present in the house.

It was bad enough that a pair of strange vampires had to come through town without the courtesy to look around before they killed, but to have them both approach us with the kinds of assumptions about our lives no one had the right to make was almost too much to tolerate. And now they'd both marked Keira — in two completely different ways and for two completely different reasons. I'd never felt more offended.

I knew my behavior had everything to do with Keira. How could it not after everything I'd seen inside the minds of these two new vampires? The male was clearly the leader — the Alpha who dictated where they went and what they did. He was controlling and methodical, and he was almost 300 years old — nearly as old as Carlisle. The woman was a little more difficult to age, even though it was very clear the pair of them had been together a very long time.

Carlisle was, of course, his welcoming, courteous self, wanting nothing more than to avoid a confrontation. I wasn't convinced of this couple's claim that they were only passing through the area. Why hadn't they left? There was no reason for them to stay if Carlisle had already given them all the information and help he had to offer. The only obvious explanation was that they'd both found something much more intriguing — like a vampire with a human girl at his side. I could see no other reason for their extended stay, and it surprisingly enraged me that anyone could think of a human as innocent as Keira that way. She was nothing to be played with — by anyone.

I covered a long distance at near full speed, emerging from the trees to see my house in the distance, and I searched the area for the other vampire's thoughts. I could hear Rosalie and Esme talking about a dance being scheduled for just before Thanksgiving, and Carlisle was reading through a copy of _A Tale of Two Cities_. Emmett was still outside, making a sweep of the immediate area before he was certain everything was clear. Keira never moved, keeping her arms around me and pressing her face into my neck. Her eyes were closed as she attempted to preserve her health; she kept thinking about how she didn't want to be sick later on. I loosened my hold on her, meaning for her to look at me, and after nearly five or six seconds, she lifted her head slowly. I began walking slowly, smiling easily.

"We'll be at the house soon," I promised her. "Are you all right?"

She nodded slowly, still holding onto me with both arms.

"Emmett looked everywhere around the house," I informed her gently. "We're safe. I'll tell Carlisle about the other vampire when we get back."

"What did you see when you read her mind?" she asked softly, grasping onto my shoulder gently.

I didn't mean to hesitate, but it wasn't something I wanted to think about. Most vampires were possessive, selfish creatures, and I was no exception in many areas where I was required to restrain myself continuously. But this was different. While the man, Connor, wanted to possess Keira and quite possibly change her into a vampire, the woman, Piper, wished nothing more than to taste her blood. There was no doubt in her mind that if she had Keira, it would send me over the edge, and I was surprised to realize that she was right. And I was a little frightened of this new feeling.

"It doesn't matter," I told Keira. "I won't let her hurt you. I won't let either of them near you. And neither will Emmett."

"But you can't stay with me every minute of every day," she reminded me, her voice quivering slightly. "And you have to hunt."

We walked a little further, and I set her down on the ground, taking her hand in mine to pull her along. I knew she was right even though I didn't want to admit it. No matter how hard I tried, I knew a time would come when she would be alone, and more than anything else, that's what I was afraid of — even if I didn't want anyone else to know that just yet.

"We'll take shifts," I assured her. "Carlisle and I can hunt together, and Emmett can go with Esme and Rose. I'll do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Please just trust me."

She lifted her free hand to my arm, squeezing gently. "I do," she promised, adding, "I think I always did."

I bowed my head then, walking silently toward the house with her beside me.

We made it back to the house uneventfully, meeting Emmett on the porch and making our way into the house through the side door to the front parlor. At the sound of our entrance, both Esme and Rosalie were downstairs in mere seconds, with equally expectant looks on their faces. Carlisle wasn't that far behind them, the hesitance in his approach enough of a sign that we still weren't out of the woods — in fact, his eyes told me things were even worse now than they had been this morning.

"Well, it's about time you showed up," Rosalie hedged. "It's nearly two o'clock."

I shot her a warning glare. "Sometimes it's later than that," I reminded her. "What's so important about it now?"

She glared at me steadily. "As if I need to be a constant reminder of what's at stake here," she retorted.

"Both of you, stop," Esme commanded gently, moving to Keira's side and gently taking her hand. "You look famished! Come on, there's food in the kitchen."

Keira didn't resist, blessedly, and once they were gone, I lowered my voice, turning to face Carlisle. "The other vampire found us in the woods," I reported desperate to contain to anger in my voice. "A woman," I added.

"Did she make a move?" Carlisle asked evenly.

"Not outwardly," I insisted, glancing at Rosalie and Emmett. "But her thoughts betrayed her. She wants Keira. More specifically, she wants Keira's blood. Now that she's shown herself to us, there's no way I'm leaving Keira alone. At this rate, I'm contemplating keeping her here until they're gone."

"And hopefully, it won't come to that," Carlisle assured me. "I warned you about this."

I stood up straight, clenching my fists at my sides. "That doesn't mean Keira or her family or anyone she knows should suffer for it," I hissed through clamped jaws. "Aren't we supposed to protect humans from those of our kind like these two who not a week ago killed five campers without a thought or care in the world?" I demanded.

He stepped closer to me, laying his hands over my shoulders and immediately eliciting my compliance. "Be calm, my son," he pleaded. "I didn't say we wouldn't keep her safe. But it would be unwise to keep Keira here while her family is still in town unprotected. And we shouldn't change the way she lives her life. If we remain calm, Connor and his mate will have left the area, and everything will go back to normal. Have patience, Edward. We'll all keep an eye on this situation."

I bowed my head, still clenching my fists and inhaling as calming a breath as I could before I lifted my head to look at him. "All right," I agreed.

It was quiet for several half-seconds, and when it looked like I was finished being rebellious as far as Rosalie was concerned, she spoke impatiently.

"And in the meantime, there are other things I would like to focus on for the time being," she complained. "We have to get Emmett a new suit for the dance. It's only two weeks away, and you know we have to get his clothes tailored."

At that, I proceeded to stalk out of the parlor, making my way into the kitchen where Keira and Esme were sitting around the bar island silently. For the moment, it looked like everything was as sorted as it was going to get, and I had no reason to stay tense, moving to the stool next to Keira to sit with her while Esme politely bowed out of the room with a little grin on her face.

Keira was quiet as she ate the turkey sandwich Esme had made her, glancing up at me every six or seven seconds, and I tried to keep a smile on my face. I didn't want her to think anything had changed, and I was still going over everything in my head, trying to keep her safe until I could remain at her side outside my own house where I felt safe as well. Then, in between bites in her sandwich, Keira spoke softly.

"Abigail was talking about the Fall Dance yesterday," she revealed with a small smile.

I bowed my head. "Rosalie is also talking of it," I nodded. "She wants to buy Emmett a new suit."

Keira blushed over her food. "Abigail said that Fisher was talking like he wanted to ask her to go," she laughed, pausing and then continuing to eat lightly.

It didn't take much on my part to read in to what she was leading up to, and I could see in her mind that she was thinking of a light blue knee-length dress with a pair of flats to keep her feet comfortable. She would ask her mother for the cream-colored shawl her grandmother had left for special occasions, and she thought I would look nice in a black suit meant for formal affairs.

I'd never been to a school dance before, and watching the images of us play out in her head made me wonder what such a thing would feel like. Even when I'd gone off on my own, the very idea of commingling with a human would've been far too dangerous for me — especially given the fact that I had so very rarely denied myself anything I'd needed at the time. While I worried about subjecting Keira to the kinds of things I'd done, I also knew she wouldn't back away from me if I were to show her that side of myself. She'd already seen me fresh from a hunt; I knew she could handle herself going to a dance with me.

"Do you want to go?" I asked after nearly half a minute.

Still, she blushed, absently biting her lower lip and bowing her head. When she didn't say anything, I leaned closer to her, laying my hand over hers to make her look at me again.

"Keira," I whispered loud enough for her to hear. "Would you like to go to the Fall Dance with me?"

She smiled shyly, lowering her eyes to our hands and gazing for another second before she lifted her eyes to mine. "Yes, Edward," she said. "I would."

I grasped onto her hand gently, smiling still when she thought about her and her mother going to Seattle for a day of going to the salon to get their hair done. She had no idea how . . . endearing it made her to me.

"Ahem!"

Emmett's overt thoughts invaded the outer layer of my mind, and I sat up slowly, turning to see him there with a wide smile on his face. I stared annoyingly, but he continued into the kitchen.

"Carlisle says it looks like we're going to be hunting this weekend before school on Monday," he informed me. "You wanna go now, or wait until tonight?"

I looked at Keira, seeing that she'd returned to her sandwich. She lifted her eyes to mine, and I glanced at Emmett. "Will you stay until I get back?" I asked earnestly.

"Of course," she promised.

I smiled again, rising slowly and feeling the need to do something to show her how thankful I was for her trust. But instead, I bowed my head and turned to leave with Emmett. He smiled as we left the kitchen, though his smile was much more suggestive, along with his thoughts, and I shook my head at him without saying anything.

Though less than a week had passed since I'd hunted, I knew with other vampires in the area that I would need as much of my strength and reason as I could muster. I didn't want to get caught in a moment of desperation where those two were concerned, and getting out of the house with Emmett for the afternoon allowed me to remove all the anger and tension I'd accumulated since our meeting with the woman. I refused to think her name. Doing so would cause all the progress I was making to fall away in an instant. Emmett was glad for the time away from Rosalie's musings about his new suit. She'd already redone all his measurements, despite the fact that he hadn't grown in any way since becoming a vampire. I suppose she did it to retain some form of normalcy. I hoped she could contain her disapproval of Keira while I was away from the house.

Emmett, for the most part, stayed quiet during our run from the house and then town, and I did nothing to stop him, hoping I could go a little while longer without dealing with the impending confrontation I knew was coming in the near-distant future — if not with these new vampires, then with Rosalie. And Emmett's thoughts were simple and tunneled as we ran toward our destination. I appreciated this more than I could express, and I would've been eternally grateful if the quiet had continued during the entire trip. But almost as soon as we stopped at the appearance of a small herd of elk, Emmett's simple-mindedness stopped and was replaced with the kind of thinking I'd become accustomed to from him by now.

"So," he began as we beared down on the herd. "Rose said this dance is in two weeks. You goin' or what?"

Despite hearing him perfectly, I chose not respond as I crouched to the forest floor to watch the herd graze through a small clearing. From what I could see, there were three adults — a male and two females — and three calves, all male, and so far, Emmett and I were nowhere near where they could detect us. I smelled the air, feeling rain close by but knowing it would still be a few hours before it arrived. Along with rain, I also smelled pine and moss and dirt, indicating a freshness in the forest that I'd also become accustomed to. This forest was unlike any I'd ever hunted inside, and it was refreshing to see and hear and smell things so unique.

"I know you like Keira," Emmett pressed, crouching beside me. "I see the way you are around her. It's okay, you know. Rose will get over it eventually."

To that, I glanced in his direction, thinking about how stubborn Rosalie was being, but also knowing in a way that she was right. Human/Vampire friendships were unheard of for a very good reason. I was dangerous for Keira. I knew this, and so did Carlisle, which was exactly why he didn't approve of what I was doing. I knew that didn't mean he didn't like Keira — as a person or in a more-than-friends capacity for me. I knew it meant he simply didn't wish for her to be in harm's way. I had no way of expressing how much I felt the exact same way.

"Rosalie's right though," I conceded softly. "It's dangerous for Keira to be around me."

Emmett leaned closer. "Then why is she still coming to the house every week?" he asked, a little grin pricking at the left corner of his mouth the way it did when he was thinking something inappropriate. "Especially now that she knows."

I bowed my head, knowing he was right about how I felt. I _was_ accustomed to Keira being around the way she was now. And I knew I would only become more accustomed to her as time went on. It didn't matter that she was human and would probably die after another eighty or ninety years. I didn't care that she would never be the same as me, since I absolutely refused to think of anyone changing her into a vampire — even me. I liked her the way she was, and I liked her because she accepted me without any reservations. She could've gone running to the town's people no matter how futile that would've been. But she hadn't. She'd stayed. She trusted me despite knowing that it could be dangerous for her in the future.

"It's because you're right as well," I admitted. "I do like her. For whatever reason, she's accepted me, and I've grown accustomed to her presence."

He chuckled victoriously, and I smirked in his direction, returning my attention to the herd as it still grazed lazily.

At that, we moved in unison toward the herd with very little hesitation, making our way around the edges of the clearing until the two largest specimens were within our path. I let Emmett charge the male since he was the largest. I sprang on the second largest even though it was one of the females. She was easy to take down, and as the other female and three calves scattered with bleets and cries of surprise, I realized that I'd taken down what could only be described as a grandmother to the male Emmett was currently feeding on. She wasn't as old as she looked, but with the elements, I suppose it was possible. I didn't feel horrible, but it made me think of the way Keira looked at me. She knew how old I was now, both physically and chronologically. I wondered why it didn't repulse her to be around me, but these were questions I didn't want to bring up around Emmett.

It was nearly dark when Emmett and I returned to the house, and while I shouldn't have expected Keira to still be at the house, I was surprised to find her sitting on the couch in the front parlor with a book in her lap like she was at home with her parents and brothers. Something else that surprised me were her clothes. Before I'd left, she'd been dressed in old clothes in anticipation of our walk through the forest, since most of her clothes were rather refined. Now, as she sat on the couch quietly reading, I noticed she was wearing a pair of silk pants that were more than likely Esme's since she and Keira were nearly the same size, and her shirt was knit cotton with a discernable striped pattern on it. I was immediately confused, especially when I noticed that her hair was wet and her face was washed.

Then she looked up at me, and I knew what was going on.

Though she was thinking nothing of the sort at the moment, I could see that she'd made arrangements with her mother and father to stay at my house for the evening by telling them that she'd made a new friend in Rosalie and wanted to know what it was like to talk to a girl a lot like her. When Keira saw the uncertain look on my face, she put her book away, prompting me further into the room and closer to her until I was sitting on the coffee table in front of her — much like I'd done the week before.

"Esme said it would be okay for me to wear this while she washed my other clothes," she commented, gesturing to the pants and then the shirt. She blushed, thinking — hoping I wouldn't be too offended by her idea.

"It's all right," I assured her softly. "I simply wasn't expecting it. Are you certain it's what you want? I can still take you home."

She opened her mouth to speak, but she was interrupted by Carlisle entering the room with a tray of food that looked fresh. I could smell baked chicken and potatoes, turning to him as he arrived at the couch and set the tray over Keira's lap.

"Thank you," she nodded.

"Please don't hesitate to ask for anything else," he offered. "Esme has been busying herself all afternoon trying to find something for you to eat in the morning. Edward and Emmett will be keeping an eye on the house while she, Rosalie and I go hunting. For the time being, consider this as close to your home as you can."

His thoughts betrayed his kind words as he appraised me silently and then turned his eyes to me so I would know he still wasn't happy about this situation we'd all found ourselves in. I knew he didn't want Keira to be hurt, but I wasn't about to leave her alone. It was too late for that.

"When you're ready to sleep, Esme and I have decided it's all right for you to use our bedroom for the night. Feel free to turn in whenever you're tired. Edward can show you where it is."

Keira smiled graciously, unaware of Carlisle's reservations. "Thank you again," she smiled.

He bowed his head then, only looking at me for a split second before he left swiftly, and I looked at Keira again as she began eating.

"What did your father say about you staying here?" I asked after nearly a minute, listening to her breathe and wondering how she was so calm.

She grinned slightly. "He wasn't very happy about the idea," she revealed. "I'm his youngest, after all, and he's afraid of me growing up too fast."

"But . . ."

She bowed her head and then lifted her eyes to mine. "But he trusts me. And my mother practically overpowered him over the phone," she laughed softly. "I don't know if she's told him what she thinks of all this, but I don't think she would let anything stand in the way of it."

"Exactly what does she think of all this?" I asked, my voice softer than it had been just half a minute earlier.

Keira paused, still eating, and while I would've normally waited until she was finished with her meal, I was intrigued. So far, I knew her mother liked me and appreciated my manners where Keira was concerned. I knew she liked me because I walked Keira inside at the end of our days together, and I was always considerate of where my place was. Beyond that, I hadn't been able to discern anything else from her thoughts. She tried not to objectify me the way most of the girls and women in town did, and it spoke volumes about how Keira had reacted to me. I respected Annabeth Jones for that more than she could possibly imagine.

"She likes you," Keira said obviously, to which I nodded.

"I gathered just as much," I agreed, and she laughed again.

"But it's more than that. She likes the way you are. You remind her of my father and the way he was when they first met." She paused, gathering her thoughts. "She says it's like you're courting me, or something to that effect."

Something about the words she used made me react instantly, and I sat back over the coffee table, putting at least two extra feet between us. I remembered that from my old life — my human life, despite the fact that I'd never done anything like it in my life. I'd never courted a girl when I'd been human, nor had I ever even considered being this close to one after being changed into a vampire. It was enough that she was here and trusted me completely. I didn't need it to change. And when she noticed how uncomfortable I'd become, she did the exact opposite of what I needed her to do.

"I didn't mean to upset you," she insisted gently, leaning closer and wrapping her hand around my arm. "I told my mother it wasn't like that. I told her we're just friends. I told her I'm too young for what she's talking about."

"And do you know what she's talking about?" I demanded softly, unconsciously inhaling and unintentionally causing Keira's pulse to increase.

She paused again, reading my face and thinking I was misunderstanding her. "Well, I don't know exactly what she's talking about," she surmised. "But with her comparing it to my father, I can only imagine what she means. Edward, I — "

"It's all right," I swore, carefully keeping my clenched teeth covered. "You surprised me saying that. I wasn't expecting it. I'm sorry I reacted like that. I . . . know she likes me. For you."

Keira pressed her lips together, bowing her head again and returning to her food. I decided then to wait until she was finished eating to say anything else. I knew this was just as new for her as it was for me. I hoped it kept us on common ground a little while longer until the restraints of my physical being began to get in the way again. I knew that was inevitable.

Less than a second after Keira finished her food and the iced tea given to her, Esme appeared at the entrance of the front parlor to take her tray, and once she disappeared again, it became obvious to me that I was being given a wide berth where my guest was concerned. For once, I took the hints and suggestive thoughts to heart, per say, allowing Keira to pick up her book so I could walk her up stairs to my room.

It was only six-thirty and Saturday evening, but I knew it would be different with Keira here. I didn't have a bed in my room, and even though I knew she would need to sleep, I was glad I would be able to leave her to that peacefully for the first time in several days. I wondered if she minded the fact that I'd been watching her every night since Tuesday, but she hadn't said anything to suggest otherwise. Her thoughts told me she knew it would be a common thing until I was sure she and her family were safe, and while I was uncertain how that made me feel despite my conversation with Emmett, I still wanted to shelter her as much as I could. I owed her that much.

"What book are you reading?" I asked as we ascended the stairs to the third floor where my room was situated.

"Tennyson," she commented, adding, "Carlisle was gracious enough to lend me a book of his poems. They were my grandmother's favorites."

"Do you have a favorite?" I'd never imagined a girl Keira's age could enjoy poetry or anything having to do with an older time period, but she continued to surprise me.

"_Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal_," she revealed.

I bowed my head then, remembering the poem quite well and utterly amazed by her candor. "_Now folds the lily all her sweetness up, And slips into the bosom of the lake_," I quoted with a slight smile, continuing, "_So fold thyself, my dearest, thou, and slip Into my bosom and be lost in me._"

She smiled then with me, laughing softly. "You know it?"

I glanced at her, arriving at the last landing before my room. "I read a lot," I reminded her.

She nodded then, stepping into my room as I held the door open and then settling over the lounge chair as it overlooked the forest near my house. It was dark now, the deep gray clouds shrouding what should've been a half-moon. There was rain coming through town now, and I could see little droplets spattering the window as it began to sprinkle outside. The house was warmer now with Keira inside it. I could also hear the fire in Carlisle's library crackling loudly with fresh logs. I knew he wanted to accommodate her, so I left my door open to let the heat drift inside my room.

"What do you like to read?" she asked, opening her book back to where she'd been before she'd eaten.

"Tennyson is good," I agreed, removing my shoes and scooting them under the lounge chair. "And as cliched as it sounds, I actually rather enjoy Shakespeare. I balked at a lot of his tragedies, but the comedies were well-thought for me. _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ is always agreeable on the occasional dreary day. I don't understand why anyone would want to read a tragedy like _Hamlet_ or _Romeo & Juliet_."

"My father once told me he liked reading _The Two Gentlemen of Verona_. He said he always like reading about Launce and his dog," she admitted while still blushing deeply. "My mother has a copy of _For Whom the Bell Tolls_."

I stood up from the lounge chair slowly, moving to the south wall of my room where most of my books and records were kept. I looked over the large selection of music I now possessed, finding a relatively new purchase and moving to the record player Carlisle had bought in Rochester before we'd moved to Hoquiam. Gently, the tinkling sounds of a new artist, Nat King Cole filtered through the small speakers, singing _It's only a Paper Moon._ Keira laughed softly, rising to join me in front of the record player.

"Is that new?" she inquired, her voice upbeat for the first time in days.

"I found this in a music store in Seattle just before we moved here," I nodded. "The salesman looked at me funny, but I knew it would be a fruitful endeavor. Do you like it?"

"Fisher has been looking for this for almost six months," she agreed with a nod. "He plays jazz all the time."

"Then he can have this," I offered more seriously than I had in a long time. She immediately stopped smiling. "What?" I asked.

"You don't have to do that," she insisted. "I'm sure he and Kyle will be driving to Seattle before Christmas. He can find it then."

"Nonsense," I pressed. "You'll take it home with you tomorrow."

She conceded with a grin, looking over the several vinyl records filling my shelves.

I leaned in closer, whispering. "Anything else you'd like to listen to before you go to bed?"

She looked further, gazing along the shelf and then pulling one out that was rather old for its place in my collection. I stared at the front cover of the record for a few seconds, lifting my eyes to hers.

"Beethoven?" I verified.

She nodded.

I bowed my head in concession, pulling the previous selection from the record player and replacing it with a piece of music I actually hadn't listened to in quite some time. As the quiet sounds of _Für Elise_ began to fill my room, she moved back to the lounge chair, opening her book again and continuing to read. I turned to watch her, musing over the way she silently mouthed the words as she read them and noticing how she thought of grandmother doing the same thing as she moved along the page slowly.

"I can play this, you know," I said softly after several minutes, and she looked at me.

"What?"

I nodded to the record player. "All of this. I can play it. On the piano."

She tilted her head, grinning and widening her eyes slightly. "You can play the piano?"

I shrugged. "Of course. What else is there to do when one doesn't sleep?"

She blushed, and I laughed softly.

"I'll play for you sometime when we're not all being so guarded," I promised her, and she nodded.

"I would like that very much."

After that, I quieted down, listening to the music and the rain and her breathing and the beating of her heart until it was as steady as ticking of the clock in Carlisle library.

Eventually, she laid down over the lounge chair, relaxing to a certain degree until I could tell she was falling asleep. Though I'd watched her do this the last several days, it was different now. She'd learned so much about me and my family since discovering our secret, and she was no less determined than she had been that afternoon. I was so grateful for her for so many more reasons than I was willing to admit.

She almost dropped her book, but I caught it and laid in on my desk before gently lifting her in my arms to carry her to Carlisle and Esme's room as it set vacant. I could still hear Carlisle in his library reading an old copy of one of his father's texts, and Esme was inventorying the items she had in the kitchen. She was thinking about what to leave out for Keira to eat for breakfast, and I decided she would do that until she was satisfied with her choices.

Even though none of us slept, those of us who could, used their beds for other reasons, and I knew that was the reason why Carlisle and Esme had this bed. I was grateful they were relinquishing it for just one night. The bed was made for me to slip Keira between the top sheet and the mattress, and she stirred just as I was pulling the blanket over her shoulder.

"What time is it?" she asked softly, sleep overpowering her voice and her mind.

"After eight-thirty. You've had another eventful day."

She smiled like she was going to say something, but instead, she reached for my hand and held onto it without the intention of letting go. She drifted back to sleep gently, and I resigned myself to her side, watching her mind become distant as images of the day came to front of her mind. I could tell it was going to take much more than a few hours of exposure to my family for her to forget the impending danger I'd exposed her to — especially when Connor's face flashed through her mind when she thought about the woman's words from that afternoon.

I had no defenses up for something like this. I had no way of preventing my instincts from taking over. It was very frustrating. But I was determined. I'd made a promise to Keira, and I intended to keep it, by any means necessary. Rosalie and Carlisle were just going to have to accept it for the time being.

* * *

**_A few notes before we part._**

**"Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal"**is a poem written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It was first published in 1847, in The Princess: A Medley.

The poem has been set to music several times, including settings by Benjamin Britten,[1] Roger Quilter,[2] Ned Rorem,[3][4] and Mychael Danna.[5]

It appeared as a song in the 2004 film Vanity Fair (based on Thackeray's novel from 1848), sung by the character Becky Sharp.

**For Whom the Bell Tolls **was written by Earnest Hemingway and published in 1940.

**It's only a Paper Moon** was released at part of a collection by The King Cole Trio in 1944. It was Nat King Cole's first record.

Edward is supposed to have a lot of music, and considering the time, I'd still find that to be true. Only the format is different.

**Until next time!**


	13. Feats of the Imagination

**_Oh, my gosh, has it really been a whole month since I updated? I can't even believe that! So much has happened, and I've been working so hard on this. It's literally hot off the presses, as I just finished proofreading it a second time. See any mistakes? Tell me! I will be more than happy to alleviate them._**

**_A few more things going on in this chapter despite only a few hours going by. More time will be passing by in Keira's chapter, and don't get confused with any of the time displacements. There's a reason for it._**

**_Now that I've gotten all that out of the way, go on! Read!  
_**

* * *

_**Feats of the Imagination**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

Going back to school on Monday felt more mundane than it had in two months, but I knew now that it wasn't because of the monotony of moving from class to class and listening to the droning blather of my teachers. Now, I knew it was because of everything that had transpired over the last week. I knew it was because Keira knew things about me now that made me want to keep her inside a securely locked house where no other vampire — aside from those in my own family — could reach her. The supernatural world had spilled back into my life in a seriously intrusive way, and I didn't want to go back to doing the normal things I knew Carlisle would want. I knew Connor was still in town, and that meant Piper was still in town. They were both trolling the area, biding their time and waiting for the moment to strike. I was more worried than ever of how dangerous it was for us to be anywhere near the town right now.

But in returning to school on Monday, I found myself more intrigued with participating than I had been since first starting in September. Even Social Studies was more interesting than it had been in over eight weeks. We were talking about political issues cropping up now that the war was over — or as finished as it was going to get with a treaty in place — and I found myself more able to offer my own views than I ever had before.

"You're more relaxed today than I've ever seen you," Keira said to me as we walked from Social Studies toward the school gym. Fisher had left us to get to his own World History class, and Abigail was now safely situated in her own Science class. It was just the two of us as we walked from the building to the gym as others in the period filtered in that direction with us.

"Am I?" I asked softly.

"Yes," she acknowledged. "Is everything all right now?"

I bowed my head, glancing around and leaning closer to her. "Perhaps I'm finding myself more comfortable than I have since I moved here," I suggested, to which she smiled curiously. "And perhaps I've discovered that despite the monotonous routine, this place can actually be a nice place to live."

"Because?"

The question in her eyes prompted me to spy inside her head, and she was wondering what had occurred over the weekend for me to reach such a conclusion. But I also saw that despite her fervent need to remain indifferent about her surroundings, she was glad for one thing. Me.

"Because of you," I replied honestly.

She blushed, and I eased my arm around her to guide her along the sidewalk we were occupying. We arrived in the gym together, and I released her to the girls' dressing room while I joined Emmett in the boys' room.

"Still getting really close to that girl," he teased. "Pretty soon you're gonna have to ask her out. That would really send Rose over the edge."

To that, I smiled, moving to where my gym clothes were and changing. My smile never faded.

Though it was difficult not to, my eyes seemed able to find Keira across the floor of the gym no matter where she was or what I was doing. The boys' instructor separated Emmett from me, and when he paired me with another boy in class, I made a point of doing poorly so it wouldn't look like I was usurping the other boy's abilities. We were doing running drills through most of class, and a few times, I actually saw Keira laughing when she saw me struggling with my inability to perform at the level she now knew I was capable. I tried not to laugh back. Doing so would've alerted my partner to the joke we were sharing at his expense.

Emmett chose me as a partner in the last set of exercises, relieving my less-matched opponent and taking me around the edge of the court to keep the other students from seeing neither of us sweating. It was a well-planned routine we'd fallen into, and it worked for the most part, even now with someone in close proximity who knew we were faking our own meager ability to be ordinary. She knew neither of us was ordinary, but more than that, I somehow knew she was no more ordinary than either me or Emmett. I didn't know if he could sense it, but I could. Even more now than I had ever before.

"So are you going to ask her out soon, or what?" Emmett asked as we jogged slowly around the court where other students were covertly watching us.

"And there's a reason why we should be talking about this now?" I shot back, glancing around to see Keira playing badminton with a few other girls.

"Where else are we going to talk about it? By this afternoon, something else will have happened, and I won't get a chance to do it then. Come on, man. You gotta have some idea of what you think of her by now."

Mentally, I thought back to the morning after Keira had stayed in my house over night, and I remembered thinking how amazingly innocent she'd looked while sleeping. It wasn't about keeping her safe anymore, though it was still my goal to protect her at least until I knew we were the only vampires in town again. At that point, it had been about making sure she had a chance to adjust to the way her world was changing so drastically she could hardly keep up. It had been about making sure she had a choice while her future security was still in her hands, and not mine, but watching her wake made me realize it was already different. And I would never be able to give that back to her.

"I know she's different from every girl I've ever met," I confessed, listening to Emmett chuckle. "And I know she wants to have a life outside of the one being placed in front of her by the fact that she's a young girl in a small town where she'll be expected to be a wife and mother before she thinks of herself. She's changed my entire outlook on my existence here, and possibly further beyond this place. And I think she sees me the same way. But I've only known her two months. And things aren't so different now from when I was actually seventeen. I want to do things right. And if that means taking it slow, then that's what I'll do. Is that good enough?"

He smirked, still jogging and glancing back at Keira as she scored a goal for her and her partner. "I guess so," he conceded. "I like her too, you know. She's anything but dull, if you get my meaning."

I knew he was only being sincere about watching me react to her, but I could also see that he'd grown accustomed to her the way I had. Unlike Rosalie, he got to see Keira every day, and I knew he genuinely appreciated her effect on me. It actually reminded him of when he'd first seen Rosalie. That notion wasn't altogether lost on me, but Keira was so young. And at this moment of her life, she had choices. I wasn't about to take any of that away from her, even if in one way or another, I already had.

Gym class was over nearly as soon as it had begun. Emmett and I were "showering" before we realized an hour had gone by, and while the other boys in the class took their time cleaning up, I was glad to be outside the showers alone before Emmett. It was in those two or three moments I had to myself that I was able to hear inside the girls' showers where I knew Keira was also cleaning up from her exercises. I recognized her voice in the small group instantly as she spoke to another girl — one whose voice I'd been trying very hard to forget.

"You and Edward have been spending a lot of time together," Jennifer commented as her inappropriate thoughts drifted into my mind.

"We _are_ doing our science project together," Keira reminded her, but I could sense a little bit of defense in her voice.

"Oh, no you don't," Jennifer chastised. "I saw you looking at him during our game. No other girl in school looks at him like that."

"And exactly how is that?" Keira asked, her thoughts running over every moment of the gym class we'd just endured.

"Like you're his girlfriend," Jennifer accused.

Keira's pulse increased, and it was quiet after that until the door to the dressing room opened. I couldn't hide my surprise when the first set of girls came out of the dressing room, and when I saw Keira, it seemed like she could see that I'd heard everything she and Jennifer had talked about.

She didn't say anything, taking my arm and directing me out of the gym quietly. We were alone before she spoke, glancing around quickly to make sure no one was close enough to hear her.

"Jennifer's nothing to worry over," she assured me. "I don't care about gossip in a small town. And the only person whose opinion I think of is Abigail's."

I glanced around also, noticing how there were quite a few other students leaving gym class who were also looking at us. "And what does Abigail think?" I asked softly.

"She thinks you're the boy who's helping her pass Advanced Mathematics," Keira informed me with a smile. "And she thinks you're nicer than any boy she's gone to school with since she was in kindergarten. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. I know I don't care what they think."

We arrived outside the cafeteria then, and I opened the door for her to step inside and discover the room nearly half-full. We moved to the line that would take us passed the buffet-style set-up, and I spoke again despite the others around us who might hear.

"So it doesn't matter what Fisher thinks?" I inquired, grinning.

Though I expected her to become serious at the mention of her brother, instead she smiled. "Of course it matters," she acknowledged. "But he's my brother. Not my father. Or my mother. And she likes you."

I smiled again even though I knew it wouldn't always be that simple.

Fisher and Abigail were sitting with Emmett and Rosalie when we joined them, and while I noticed Abigail and Keira laugh together, I also noticed how uncomfortable Rosalie was when she saw how much Emmett and I were becoming accustomed to being around these particular humans.

"I take it you and Emmett are also going to the dance?" Fisher asked me as I sat between him and his sister.

I glanced at Keira and then Emmett, and Fisher spoke again when I didn't answer him.

"Keira and my mother are already talking about buying a new dress and maybe even getting themselves done up for the day," he commented.

I smiled, feeling like I could've blushed even though I knew I wasn't. "I asked her, and she said yes," I admitted. "I realize I should've asked her father first, but it was an impulse." I turned to face him, speaking more formally than I had in years. "Fisher, is it all right with you that I may accompany your sister to the Fall Dance? May I . . . May I have your permission?"

He tilted his head curiously, glancing at Keira and then Abigail before he looked at me again. "Of course," he nodded. "I don't see how I could stop her. Keira's willful and independent, if nothing else. I've always liked that about her. It's nice to see someone else who admires it about her."

The smile on my face only intensified, and I bowed my head then, taking my fork and absently playing with the food on my plate.

Lunch was almost over when Keira quietly stood up to throw away her uneaten food, and Rosalie's incessant thoughts caught my attention for the slightest second without allowing me to see what was happening until I could hear Keira arguing with Ethan through the commotion in the cafeteria.

"You probably don't even know anything about him," Ethan accused, clearing thinking about a set of dinners his and Keira's family had shared a few days earlier as part of some get-together for the police force her father had obliged her to attend. "You didn't even give anyone else a chance. I'm just asking you to think about it."

Keira was also thinking about these dinners, and I knew from her thoughts that she'd turned away his affections a second time. "I told you I just wanted to be friends," she insisted. "And Edward is my friend too. I know more about him than you, and that isn't my fault. Just go out with Jennifer. I know she wants to go out with you."

"That's just my point," he pressed. "You've been hanging out with him and his freak family, and things like that can get around a small town. I don't want that to happen to you. You deserve a chance, Keira. That's all I want."

"I said we could be friends," she reiterated, obviously becoming uncomfortable with his advances.

The moment he touched her, grabbed her arm and took a step closer to her, I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I knew for certain I wasn't allowing this to continue. I was out of my seat and across the cafeteria in as slow a second as I could without appearing to move too fast, and as soon as I was at Keira's side, I took action, grabbing Ethan's arm.

"Get your hand off her," I commanded, keeping my voice as low as possible. "She doesn't want you to touch her."

"And how would you know, Masen?" he taunted. There was warning in his voice, and I stepped away from him to keep from assaulting him like I wanted.

"I know her," I declared. "And she doesn't like you. So why don't you move on?"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" he grinned. "You'd love for all the rest of us to just lie down while you walk around here like you have something better to do. You have all the girls pining away after you, and the one girl who seems immune to you, you just can't let her make her own decisions can you?"

"I did decide," Keira exclaimed, and I knew we were causing a scene. Already the teachers were beginning to watch us as we stood at the front of the cafeteria. "I told you we could be friends," she informed Ethan.

"It wouldn't be like that if he weren't around," Ethan sneered. "Can't you see what he's doing? He's lining up all these girls so he could use them and move on to the next girl, and when he gets to you, he just going to toss you aside like you're a piece of trash. It's exactly how he's acting."

I knew I could truly hurt him if I wished, but I'd been practicing my restraint since I began spending time with Keira and Abigail, and I was fairly certain I could punch him without really causing any permanent damage.

Keira tried to stop me.

"Edward, come on," she pleaded, grasping onto my arm to pull me away. "Let's just go."

Ethan grinned again, still taunting. "And now he can't even fight his own fights," he joked. "Poor Edward has to be rescued by a dainty little girl."

I turned away from Keira then, grabbing Ethan by the collar and nearly shoving him into the wall behind him, finally garnering all the attention I possibly could from the entire room as Keira yelled for me to stop. But I couldn't stop.

"You're the one who would use her," I growled as he attempted to push me away with no success. "You're the one who would hurt her and throw her away. And she's worth more than that."

Venom filled my mouth, and I was on the very brink of doing something I swore I would never do again just as four sets of hands clamped around my arms and pulled me away from him. I realized his mouth was bleeding, and he looked like he was in pain from me shoving him against the wall. I didn't want to lose this opportunity, but the strangest voice stopped me from continuing my rampage.

"Calm down, Mr. Masen," Mr. Jennings ordered softly. "You'll just do something you'll regret later in your life."

Fisher was on my other side, and I swallowed the venom in my mouth as they continued to pull me away from Ethan. Two more male teachers were helping him, and he limped to a table nearby. I knew I'd hurt him, and I knew there would be consequences to starting a fight in school. But I didn't care. Whether it was my duty to do so or not, Keira wasn't just some girl to be had and disposed of, and whether she needed me to do it for her or not, I wanted her to know she never had to ask me to defend her.

I looked around for her as Mr. Jennings and Fisher sat me at another table away from Ethan, and I was surprised to see her still standing where she had been before I'd shoved Ethan into the wall. She looked so scared, and I realized too late that I'd frightened her by starting a fight with a boy she was sure I would've killed had I met him on a dark alley somewhere. Kyle appeared out of nowhere at his sister's side, and he glared at me reproachfully before gently guiding Keira away from the commotion. I was surprised to see him being so careful with her, but I knew I deserved his glare. Keira was right. I could've killed Ethan. And I would have if no one had stopped me. More than anything, this was the side of me I'd never wanted her to see. And I had no way of explaining this to her, not even after everything that had already happened.

The principal stepped over to where I'd been sat by Mr. Jennings and Fisher, and I was prepared to take whatever punishment he had to give me. I knew he had every right to do whatever he thought fit my infraction, and when Mr. Jennings began to defend me, I could do nothing to hide my surprise.

"Mr. Daniels, it wasn't entirely Mr. Masen's fault," he said. "I saw Mr. Conway arguing with Ms. Jones, and Mr. Masen was only intervening before he was provoked by Mr. Conway. I'll take responsibility for him."

Mr. Daniels looked at me, thinking he'd known all along that I was the kind of boy who sought violence before anything else, and even though I wanted to argue with him, I had no way of defending myself against his thoughts since he wasn't actually saying anything out loud. And then Fisher spoke.

"Mr. Daniels, sir, I saw Ethan grab my sister," he insisted. "And he's been attempting to pursue her for several weeks. Edward was only trying to defend her."

"Thank you, Mr. Jones," Mr. Daniels said, looking at Mr. Jennings. "Thank you, Mr. Jennings. Nevertheless, the incident still happened, and we don't tolerate violence in the school. Please come to my office, Mr. Masen."

I looked up at Mr. Jennings, and he nodded to Fisher before helping me to my feet. I realized he meant to come with me, and though I was grateful for his faith, I preferred that no other people had to deal with my mistake.

"It's all right, Mr. Jennings," I assured him. "My brother-in-law will come."

"Well, if it's all the same," he said, looking at Mr. Daniels, "you're a minor, and you'll need someone to look out for your best interests until he arrives. And please, call me John."

I bowed my head then, following him from the cafeteria while the other teachers began calming the rest of the students. Ethan was sitting with an ice pack on his back, and he glared at me as I was escorted out of the cafeteria. He wouldn't approach Keira anymore, especially if it meant spurring my anger, and despite everything he'd said and done, I still felt horrible for hurting him. He wasn't a nice person, and I knew that just from listening to his thoughts, but he didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of my mood swing.

The walk to the principal's office was quiet, and I tried to think of what I would tell Carlisle when he discovered I had lost my temper for the first time in nearly fifteen years. And more than that, I'd actually hurt a student — however minimally. I hadn't meant to, but I didn't know if Carlisle would take that into consideration. I knew he would let me explain, and I was certain he wouldn't blame me for what I'd done. But it wouldn't bode if when he decided I needed to stay home from school until I could control myself.

"You must really like Ms. Jones," Mr. Jennings, John said to me as we walked. "I don't think I've seen you quite that passionate about anything since I met you. I have to admit — it seems like the two of you have gotten close."

I bowed my head even as we walked. "Keira doesn't deserve any of his advances," I insisted, to which to the principal looked at me. "She never asked for it, and the moment he grabbed her, I — "

"I know," John said. "I get it. I was like you in high school. I didn't like it when some of the guys in my class didn't treat the girls respectfully. It's good to know you've been taught values and respect. But next time, try just to walk away. It'll do you a lot more good than him."

To that, I agreed with him. "I know," I nodded.

The girl covering the office for lunch was gathering her books up when we all stepped inside, gawking at me and wondering what I could've done to get escorted to the principal's office by the principal. John nodded for her to get going, and though I knew she didn't want to go anywhere, she left quickly.

"You're giving me a very hard decision to make, Mr. Masen," Mr. Daniels told me as we all sat in his office. "More than half the school saw you shove Mr. Conway into the wall of the cafeteria. Only three people saw him grab her. Certainly, you see the difficult position I've been put in."

I bowed my head again, trying to look remorseful. I wasn't really sorry for defending Keira. But I did feel bad about giving Ethan the satisfaction of knowing he'd gotten under my skin — so to speak. "Yes, sir," I nodded.

"And I would have no reservation about suspending you for the rest of the week," he deduced.

"I understand, sir," I acknowledged.

Next to me, John spoke up. "Um, sir, I think that would be a little excessive," he argued. "Especially since Mr. Conway knows the school rules. Mr. Masen is still new to our school system, and I don't think it would be fair to punish him so drastically for his first infraction."

"I'm well aware of how new Mr. Masen is to our school, Mr. Jennings," Mr. Daniels stated plainly. "And let us not forget how new you are to the school. I only said I would have no reservations. However, until I have the whole picture, I will delay deciding on a punishment. For right now, you may take Mr. Masen to his next class. I'll call Ms. Jones and Mr. Conway into my office, and once I've spoken to them, I'll make my decision."

John stood up then, and I followed him. "Thank you, sir," I said.

We stepped out of Mr. Daniels' office then, meeting the secretary and then stepping out into the hallway as it began to fill up slowly.

Some of the students looked at me about as covertly as any human gawking at another possibly could, and John bypassed the main hallway to take me upstairs where my French class was residing. Once we were alone, I spoke softly.

"Thank you," I persisted, and he looked at me. "I wasn't expecting you to defend me. Or stop me."

He smiled crookedly. "Well, you're welcome," he nodded. Then he continued. "I was new here once, about six years ago. It took me almost an entire semester to get any of these kids to trust me, and it took even longer for their parents. Being in a small town isn't the best place to be new, especially when you're not from a small town yourself."

I looked at him as we arrived on the second floor. "You're not from here?"

He shook his head. "Philadelphia," he informed me. "We did things differently in Pennsylvania. Much differently."

I nodded, looking around as students began filling these halls as well. Luckily, we arrived at the door to my French class. "I know what you mean," I agreed.

"Now," he addressed, holding onto my arms. "Are we going to have a problem until you get to my class?"

I shook my head, noticing Kyle coming closer with Keira. "I'm all right. Thank you."

John nodded. "Good. Remember what I said."

I bowed my head. "I will."

He stepped away from me, moving on down the hall back to the stairwell that would take him to his own class, and within a few seconds, I was faced with Keira and her oldest brother as he still glared at me.

"I knew you were a juvenile delinquent when I first saw you," he accused. "And just because you apparently defended my sister against that sleaze Ethan Conway doesn't change anything. Got it?"

I nodded. "I do. I should've handled the situation better. It won't happen again."

He appraised me immediately. "Yes, it will, and you know it will. And you should also know that I'll be telling my father how much I think you're spending too much time with my sister. If at that point he still thinks it's okay for you to be around her, it still won't change anything between us. We clear?"

Again, I nodded.

He looked at Keira, and she lifted her eyes to mine, still holding a small amount of fear inside them. In an interesting change of behaviors, he leaned in to whisper to her, gently kissing her cheek and then nudging her into the room.

I didn't want to push my luck, allowing her to walk to her seat without any interference from me and then sitting beside her as she remained silent.

Ms. Lockhart was writing out lessons on the chalkboard, and I knew I would only have a few more minutes to say anything to Keira. I was afraid to say anything, but before I could, I heard a thought leave her head purposefully.

_It's okay, Edward. Let's just wait until after school._

Stunned, I didn't notice that several of the people in class were glancing at us over their shoulders, and I sat up straight, trying harder than I had all day to pay attention to the class even though there was absolutely no need for me to pay attention since I could do that and listen to what every person in the class was thinking at that very moment.

At the end of French class, Kyle appeared at the door ready to take Keira to her next class, and I was forced to let him walk her a few paces ahead of me to the first floor where Study Hall was currently filling up with other students. Fisher and Abigail were already sitting at one of the tables, and while Kyle again whispered to Keira, I sat opposite them realizing that I would have to sit next to Keira the same way I had in French class and the same way I knew I would in English class in an hour.

"Don't worry about Kyle," Fisher said as I sat down. "He just wants to look like the responsible older brother since everyone is watching. Give him a day or two, and he'll be back to normal."

I glanced back to see Keira moving closer to the table, also seeing Kyle with his eyes on me, and for an instant, I somehow knew Fisher was only saying that for my benefit. I knew I'd done something to change Kyle's attitude toward me instantly. And I knew exactly what I'd done — his job.

Keira sat down quietly then.

"Are you okay?" Fisher asked his sister.

She glanced at me, bowing her head and then speaking softly. "I'm fine."

"Ethan didn't have any right to do what he did," Abigail insisted. "And if anyone should get punished, it's him. None of the girls I talk to think he's worth the time to get to know, and Jennifer is the only girl who thinks he's anything special. If you ask me, they're made for each other."

Fisher snickered, glancing at me and then Keira. "Well, when I talk to the principal, I'm going to tell him what I saw. No matter what Kyle says or does, I know who the bad guy is."

I was grateful for his vote of confidence, but I couldn't tell him exactly who he was defending. I was sure if he knew, he wouldn't be defending me so valiantly.

"Fisher," Abigail said, "didn't you say you wanted to look over my math homework before school was out?" She paused. "Um, over there," she pointed to a couple of chairs at the front of the classroom.

Keira blushed, and it was clear what Abigail and Fisher were doing. After a minute or two, they both stood up, and even though I knew they were trying to help, I felt even more tense sitting with Keira after having been left there intentionally by the brother she had that I liked and someone she considered her best friend.

And despite all of that, Keira spoke less than half a minute after being left alone with me.

"My brother," she said. Then she added, "Both of them."

I inhaled deeply. "I can definitely relate," I commented. She looked at me, and I cleared my throat softly. "Emmett and Rosalie are kind of being intolerable."

She glanced back at Fisher, quietly turning her attention to me. "About me?"

I leaned in closer. "None of this has anything to do with you," I swore. "Rosalie will simply have to accept that you're a part of my life now. You're my friend, Keira. And she knows you're not going anywhere. That's the only reason she'd not happy about this. It's like Emmett said. She doesn't like change."

"And I'm too much change?"

"No," I insisted. "You're just right — for me. And Emmett and Esme are just as ready to accept you as I am. Carlisle is being cautious, but he won't risk your life, and I — I'm sorry about what happened at lunch."

She sighed softly. "I told you that it was okay," she repeated from her thoughts in French class. "It wasn't your fault. Ethan provoked you, and I was just surprised. I never thought I would ever see that side of you, and I was scared someone would know something was different about you. I can't even think of what would happen if someone else knew what I know. I promised Carlisle I would keep your secret, and you need me to do that just as much as I need to do it for you."

I was surprised by her revelation, again glancing around and noticing how Abigail and Fisher were watching us closely. Then I looked at Keira, keeping my voice low. "So you weren't scared of me hurting him?" I asked, stunned. "Because I know what you were thinking."

"You're not going to hurt anyone," she proclaimed. "We've been spending time together for two months, and you've never hurt me."

I opened my mouth to argue, and she stopped me. "And it doesn't matter what Emmett did. He didn't want to hurt me, and it won't happen again. Don't beat yourself up over something that wasn't your fault."

I couldn't keep from smiling, the same way I had in the cafeteria. "Are you sure?" I asked softly.

"Of course I'm sure," she nodded

I bowed my head then, thankful for once that I hadn't done permanent damage to the friendship we'd been able to build over the last two months.

Keira was called to the principal's office just as English class was starting, and even though she and John both gave me reassuring smiles, I wasn't as trusting that Mr. Daniels wouldn't punish me for instigating a fight in his school. He was a simple man and saw things in black and white. There was no grey in his world, and I was a grey area — especially since I hadn't really interacted with much of the student body. And I had no idea how he would treat Keira. Being in a small town wouldn't help, and I knew I would have to do everything in my power to not overreact if the end result wasn't to my liking.

Though I didn't do it on purpose, after Keira was gone, and after John began his lesson for the day, I unconsciously found myself listening to Keira's thoughts as she walked to Mr. Daniels' office with the office aide. Students were still hurrying to class, and some of them looked at her. It was like she was a new student all over again — garnering the unnecessary attention of nearly everyone who saw her. Even the office aide sent to retrieve her couldn't contain her thoughts without speculating relentlessly about what was so special about Keira to warrant the attention of not one, but two boys in school.

_She's pretty,_ the office aide, whose name was Robin, thought. _But really? Two boys? She's only been in school two months. Only been in town a little more than that. _

Keira seemed to know what this girl was speculating to a degree, and she tried to ignore it, concentrating on what she was going to tell Mr. Daniels about what had happened in the cafeteria. She was worried he wouldn't believe her, the same as I was, and she wasn't very confident he would think she was telling the truth. I wished for the ability to make her a little stronger in that department, but I could do nothing but listen.

The secretary was sitting behind her desk when Keira arrived in the front office, but before she could say anything, Mr. Daniels called to Keira from his office.

"Ms. Jones," he beckoned. "Please."

Slowly, Keira moved into his office, and he cleared his desk.

"Please close the door," he requested.

Her pulse increased slightly as she eased the door closed, thinking of me for a split second and then sitting in the chair he gestured to for her.

"It's been quite an eventful day," he began cordially, and I could sense he was attempting to make her comfortable even though it didn't work.

She bowed her head. "Yes, Mr. Daniels."

He smiled lazily. "I don't think I've ever seen such a spectacle over a girl in our school before," he commented.

She blushed, obviously ashamed that she earned so much attention as it had not been her intention.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he asked, becoming aware of her discomfort.

She hesitated, still going over all of it in her head. "Well, I got up to throw away my tray, and Ethan followed me. He talked about the dinner we attended with our parents the other day. He asked me if I enjoyed myself," she recalled, pausing as she thought of more.

Mr. Daniels interrupted her before she could continue. "And did you?"

She looked at him. "I'm sorry?"

He grinned. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Again, she hesitated. "It was just a company dinner," she insisted. "Our fathers work together, and it was a gathering meant to settle what they would do for the holidays. It wasn't fun, if that's what you're asking. My father made me go."

"Did you like being there? With Ethan."

I wondered where his questions were going, and Keira picked up on it as well, arguing with him. "We barely spoke," she said. "He asked me to the Fall Dance — "

Mr. Daniels inhaled then, leaning back in his chair, and in his thoughts, I could see the musings of an older man going back to where he'd been younger — fighting over a girl with another boy in school.

"I told him I was going with Edward," Keira continued. "And that's when he started trying to persuade me to go with him. Relentlessly."

"I see," Mr. Daniels grinned. "And of course, I understand. A pretty girl like you. I can certainly see where Mr. Conway would want to vie for your affections. Mr. Masen as well. I've seen you with Mr. Masen quite a lot since you began school."

Still confused, Keira attempted to defend herself — and me. "We're science project partners," she informed him. "We've had good reason to spend a lot of time together. And Edward is a very nice person. He's a gentleman, which is more than I can say for Ethan."

"And you're sure you never felt anything for Mr. Conway?" he accused, doing so in a slightly condescending way I wasn't too thrilled about.

"I told you," Keira said, her voice coming out of a whisper. "We've barely spoken. And whether I do or not, he had no right to grab me the way he did. Edward was only defending me. He might have gone about it in an undesirable way, but he meant no harm."

"Clearly, you've already chosen whose side you're on," Mr. Daniels nodded.

Keira had no words of retaliation, but Mr. Daniels gave her no opportunity to continue.

"That will be all, Ms. Jones," he said abruptly. "Go back to class."

Stunned, she stood from the chair, turning to leave as he picked up his phone, and he spoke before she got too far.

"Would you please send Mr. Masen back to my office?" he requested.

Keira bowed her head. "Of course, Mr. Daniels."

She left then, and I waited until she was in the hallway outside the office to lift my eyes to the front of class where John was continuing in his lesson. Much to my surprise, he wasn't even looking at me. His thoughts were simplified to instruct the other students, but he was purposefully avoiding me. It was almost like he knew I had no desire to pay attention to him with Keira in the principal's office.

He noticed me looking at him, raising his eyebrows expectantly, and I nodded slightly, allowing him to know everything was all right for the time being. And then Keira stepped into the room. She looked at me, and then she looked at John.

"The principal has asked to see . . . Mr. Masen," she announced, struggling with whether to say my first name or not.

John looked at me, and I stood up, glancing at the clock and seeing only half an hour had passed. Carlisle worked about ten minutes away at the Community hospital in Aberdeen. I knew it would be nearly three o'clock before he arrived, and I knew Mr. Daniels was calling him now to tell him of the situation. I met Keira at the door, passing her with a nod and then stepping into the hallway alone to make my way to the principal's office. Absently, I knew Emmett would never let me live this down.

The secretary looked at me the same way she'd looked at Keira, and I looked passed her into Mr. Daniels' office. He looked up, motioning for me to come forward. I didn't say anything to the secretary, moving into the office and then closing the door without him saying anything. He sat up slowly, putting down the pen in his hand and folding his hands over the desk in front of him.

"You know what you did was wrong," he said to me, trying to sound very authoritarian as opposed to being horribly condescending the way he'd been with Keira.

I played along with his attitude, nodding. "Yes, sir."

"And you know I would be well within my rights to suspend you from school for the rest of the week," he continued, knowing very well Carlisle was on his way.

Again, I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Do you think you deserve to be punished?"

I was surprised at his question, considering his thoughts had not led to this particular question. I answered him honestly. "No. I was defending Keira, and he had no right to grab her. She said 'no' to him once before already, and it's not right to disrespect a lady's wishes. Surely, a man of your stature would agree with that."

He was pleased with my flattery, and for a few seconds, he considered simply letting me go with a warning. But he replayed Ethan's version of the incident in his mind, and he was still inclined to consider that someone needed to be punished.

"Ms. Jones certainly is a very beautiful young girl," he commented. "I can see why you would wish to fight over her. She seems quite fond of you. But, all the same, you provoked an altercation on school grounds, and I'm sorry to say, I can't look the other way. When your brother-in-law arrives, I'll be informing him of my decision, and I'll give you time to work things out with your teachers. I'm suspending you for the next two days. And when you return to school, I hope you remember that we don't go around shoving our fellow students into brick walls, no matter what they might say or do. Is that understood?"

Two days. I couldn't believe it. I was tempted to argue with him. But I couldn't step out of line again, or I thought he might feel the need to expel me. That would surely get a rise out of Rosalie.

"Mr. Masen?"

I lifted my eyes to his. "Yes, sir. It won't happen again."

"Very well," he nodded. "You may wait in the outer office for your brother-in-law, and he can accompany you to your classes to retrieve your lessons."

Still, I wanted to argue, confused over the injustice, but it only proved what I'd said to Keira. No good deed. I stood up silently, leaving his office and moving back into the outer office where the secretary was trying desperately trying not to look at me.

Carlisle hurried through the door to the office less than ten minutes after I sat down, and when I saw him, I was expecting him to be disappointed in me. I'd nearly lost complete control of myself, and he was always reminding me to be careful. But instead of what I was expecting, he surprised me by hurrying to me and pulling me to my feet.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his voice full of panic.

I nodded. "I'm all right."

"And Keira? Was she hurt?"

"No," I assured him. "I think I scared her, but she's all right now."

He inhaled deeply, looking around to see Mr. Daniels waiting at the entrance to his office. Carlisle looked at me. "I'll be right back," he promised.

I nodded again, and he moved toward Mr. Daniels, shaking the man's hand and then stepping into the office quietly.

I paid no attention to their conversation, thinking of what I would say to Keira and John when I returned to class. When Carlisle came out of Mr. Daniels' office, he wasted no time stepping back to my side and then guiding me out of the office.

"Where is your last class?" he asked softly.

"It's just down this way," I pointed, and he nodded.

We walked silently, and he nudged me toward the door, silently urging me to hurry so we could get back to the house.

Neither John nor Keira could hide their surprise when I told them what the principal had decided, and even though I knew they were both sympathetic, I assured them everything would be all right. I even asked Keira to come by the house after school if it was all right her father so we would be able to finish our science project. I didn't say anything to anyone else, retrieving my journal from my desk and then returning to the hallway where Carlisle waited. He didn't say anything to me, allowing me to lead the way out of the school to where he'd parked. He wasn't disappointed in me like I'd thought. He was actually very relieved that Ethan was still alive, and he silently promised me Emmett and Rosalie would be keeping an eye on Keira and her family until I was able to do it myself. At least during school.

* * *

**_Before we discuss the injustice of Edward being suspended, I'll argue that I was trying to show the differences between John and the principal. There were also a few role reversals that I hope you noticed. Like why was Kyle walking Keira to class?_**

**_Anyhoo, the next chapter shouldn't take as long as this one did. Hopefully, real life, and the electricity, will remain cooperative so I can see about posting a few more chapters to some of my other stories too._**

**_That's all for now! See you next time! And I'll have milk and cookies for all those brave souls who drop me a line - especially one with a hook on the end. Yep.  
_**


	14. Feats of the Imagination 2

**Even though it's early in the morning, half the world has already been awake half a day. And here I am posting a new chapter for all of you still keeping up with my story. I hope you're all keeping up, because a lot of time is going to start passing after this chapter. **

**There's a few important things that happen in this chapter, so I hope it doesn't surprise any of you when it happens. Not much else to say except I hope you like it.**

**So go on! Read!**

* * *

_**Feats of the Imagination**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

Though my mother wasn't very well-known for driving our family car even in the direst of times, that's exactly what she decided to do the Saturday before the Fall Dance when I woke after the longest week I'd had since starting school in Hoquiam. After Edward had been suspended, Fisher and Kyle had seen to fit to increase their "older brother" duties, walking me to class and sitting with me at lunch. Ethan hadn't approached me since Monday, and I hadn't wanted him to. Every one of the people who mattered to me all knew Edward had been treated unfairly, and they all made their opinions known whenever anyone asked them. It wasn't difficult to convince a few other girls in my grade of Edward's innocence, but there was nothing to be done about it. No one tried to argue with the principal, but a lot of students wanted to. Whether he'd meant to or not, Edward had generated more sympathy for himself by causing trouble than it seemed should've been possible.

When I woke on Saturday, it was different then every other Saturday since I'd started going to Edward's, and it wasn't just because he wasn't in my room when I woke. The day before, I'd told him my mother wanted to go to Seattle to find a dress and other things for the Dance, and even though I knew he wouldn't be able to leave the house unprotected, he'd stayed outside so my mother and I could primp the night before. We hadn't done that since before my grandmother had passed away, and it felt good to spend time with just my mother without also cooking dinner or doing chores around the house. And this morning, my father was relinquishing the car to her capable hands so we could spend the day together. He hated shopping, and neither Fisher nor Kyle seemed enthusiastic about accompanying us. Edward didn't want to let me out of his sight, but he'd been doing a lot of tracking the few days he'd been away from school, and he was sure everything was safe now. And he didn't want to completely isolate me from being able to do the things I wanted to do, so he agreed to stay in Hoquiam while my mother and I drove to Seattle.

I hadn't been back to Seattle in almost five months, not since we'd left with everything we owned to move into our new house which was quickly becoming my new home. I wondered if the city had changed since we'd left, and I thought about asking my mother if we could walk through our old neighborhood to see if any new families had moved in since we'd left. It was a silly idea, but I was so curious. In our absence, it only made sense that some other family could've taken our place.

It was sunny and a little warmer than it had been when I got out of bed that morning. Edward said it wouldn't rain again for another week or so, but it was getting colder, signaling that Winter was right around the corner. I found my nicest dress, a light blue A-line made out of the softest cotton my grandmother had been able to afford. The neckline and hem were lined with a bright white lace, and the three-quarter sleeves were also bright white. I hadn't worn it since before my grandmother had died, but it still fit, proving I hadn't grown an inch since then. My mother let me borrow her white flats, and she helped me twist my hair into a knot since I would be wearing a light jacket.

"You're so beautiful," she commented while brushing my hair as we sat in her room. "You remind me so much of Angeline. If she were here now, she'd say the same thing."

I smiled slightly, glancing at my mother. She'd been telling me this a lot the last several months since my grandmother's death, whose name I'd been given when I was born. Most everyone called me Keira, since it was my given name, but my grandmother had called me her Angel, since my middle name belonged to her. A normal girl would've been slightly embarrassed to possess such an old name, but I wore it with pride, like Fisher and Kyle who'd both been named after men in my father's family.

"This is going to be so much fun," my mother said as we rose from her bed and left her room together. "We haven't been shopping in so long. And for a Fall Dance. Keira, this is going to be something you'll remember for the rest of your life."

I blushed, descending the stairs with her. "It's just a Fall Dance, mom. It's not the prom."

She laughed softly. "Oh, I know, but that's just around the corner," she teased.

I chose not to respond to that, merely wanting to eat breakfast before we left for the day.

My father and brothers were all sitting at the breakfast table when my mother and I came down, and Fisher stood the moment I was close, pulling my chair and smiling widely.

"Good morning," he greeted, kissing my cheek. I blushed.

"Good morning," I laughed softly. "Are you okay?"

He sat down as my father also sat down from pulling out my mother's chair. "Can't I be just a little happy about my baby sister going to her first school dance?"

My father chuckled softly, and I bowed my head as low as I could without saying anything. Thankfully, or rather as annoyingly as he could, Kyle chimed in right about then.

"All right, come on," he complained. "She's going to a stupid school dance. Big deal."

Fisher passed me a platter of hash browns then, and breakfast proceeded as normally as possible.

We were almost finished eating when my father spoke over his plate. "I made a phone call to Harvey Peterson at the station in Seattle," he began, "so if you two need anything, just call the station and ask for him. He'll help you."

My mother smiled, but I could tell she was a little dismayed. "Well, thank you, dear," she chuckled softly.

"I just want to make sure you two have somebody up there to call if you get where you can't get home," my father continued. "It's been a long time since you were by yourself in the city, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to you if I could help keep you safe."

"Thank you, daddy," I nodded.

My mother lowered her eyes to her wrist where she was now wearing a thin, jeweled watch. "Oh! It's already 8:30," she exclaimed. "We should get going. We have an appointment at the beautician at 11:00, and it takes a little while to get there. I told her we wanted to look at a few hair styles before we settled on one for your dance. She said she could show me how to do it."

My father stood up then. "Well, then you should get going," he agreed. "We wouldn't want you to miss your appointment."

I blushed, glancing at Fisher and then rising as my mother also stood and moved to kiss my father's cheek. He embraced her gently, whispering and then turning to face me.

"You know what you want to wear, right?" he asked, slightly teasing.

I smiled. "I do," I nodded.

"Then don't let your mother convince you to buy anything but what you want. Okay?"

I laughed softly, and so did my mother as I wrapped my arms around my father's shoulders. "Yes, daddy," I whispered.

He squeezed me tighter than he had in a while, and when I stepped away from him, he also kissed my cheek before letting me go.

My father followed me and my mother outside to where the car was parked. Kyle had "graciously" moved his car to the curb in front of the house, and once my mother and I were inside the family car, my father leaned over the driver's side door.

"Now, don't drive too fast," he advised. "We just got your license renewed. Just be careful, and we'll all see you when you get home."

"Enjoy your day with your boys," she suggested, turning the engine over and then putting the car in gear as he stepped back from the car.

For a woman who rarely drove, my mother was exceptionally calm and confident as we left our neighborhood and got on the road out of the town. I'd brought a book for the drive there and back, but I was so intrigued by her calmness that I watched her for almost ten minutes before she looked at me with a smile on her face.

"You didn't think I've never talked your father into letting me drive his most precious possession, do you?" she quipped.

I laughed softly. "Of course not," I insisted. "I'm just remembering why I'm lucky to have you as my mother."

She laughed then, keeping her eyes on the road as we drove through Aberdeen. "Oh, honey. I'm lucky to have you as a daughter."

I chose not to reply, pulling out my book and opening it to where I'd last read. I looked up one last time, seeing a sign to the hospital and thinking of Carlisle. He and Edward were doing sweeps of the area even now that they were sure the other vampires were no longer in town. Rosalie and Emmett were going to be laying false trails for any stray vampires that might come close, even if they were both saying the likelihood of it happening again was very small. Emmett said vampires who weren't in the same coven rarely strayed into another vampire's territory. For now, he said, this place was his family's territory. I hoped they were all being overly cautious, but something kept nagging at me that everything they were doing was very necessary.

It took just over an hour to get to Olympia, and my mother and I stopped for a short bathroom break before getting back on the interstate. She overwhelmed me with her ability to keep her cool around all the other cars. I'd never known she was capable of anything like this, and I'd known her all my life. I got almost halfway through my book when a stray ray of sun caught my eye from the moving car I was inside. We were still half an hour from Seattle then, but I couldn't take my eyes off this glittering sun ray that was off to the south end of the interstate.

At first, I thought it was Edward, and I was inwardly annoyed that he was following us away from the house. But my instincts told me this wasn't Edward. He'd promised to stay in Hoquiam, and while he was a little overprotective, I knew he wouldn't break a promise like the one he'd made to me. He knew how important spending time with my mother was to me, and he knew I trusted him to trust me just this once. Surely, no vampire, the one in particular I was thinking of, would approach us in broad daylight in a city full of people who could see him and expose him. I was a little curious as to how anyone would know what he was if he did in fact show himself to me, especially since just about everyone I knew all thought vampires burned in the sun.

The stray ray of glittering light was gone almost as soon as it appeared, and with my heart in my throat, I leaned back into my seat with my book clutched to my chest.

"Honey, we'll be there in a little bit," my mother announced, startling me out of my trance.

"Hmm?"

She laughed, still grasping onto the steering wheel. "We're almost there," she repeated. "Keira, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

I exhaled softly. "I'm okay," I assured her. _Not a ghost, but a vampire. Maybe._

The beautician my mother had made an appointment with was across the street from the dress shop where we would be buying my dress, and when my mother parked on the curb in front of the beauty shop, I actually felt myself get a little nervous. I wondered why kind of hair styles we would be able to find, and I wanted so much to look beautiful for my first school dance. I hadn't ever really cared, but now that I had a good reason to go, I found myself caring more than I ever had before.

The inside of the beauty shop was laden in shades of pink and green, and a tall, black-haired woman with tan skin and high cheekbones smiled the minute she saw us.

"Annabeth!" she exclaimed, and she and my mother embraced immediately.

"Tamara," my mother gushed, holding the woman in her arms a few extra seconds before she stepped back to look at me. "Keira, this is Tamara Lee. We went to school together. Tamara, this is my baby. She's all grown up and going to her first school dance."

Immediately overwhelmed, I bowed my head even as Tamara stepped to my side and draped her arm around me. "My gosh, you do look like Anna! You're gorgeous. You can call me Tammy."

I smiled. "Okay," I nodded.

"Now," she said, looking at my mother. "Let's see what we can find, and if we finish early enough, we can all go to lunch, just us girls."

"That sounds wonderful," my mother agreed.

With that, Tamara guided me to a salon chair and sat me down while she retrieved a collection of books from the back of her shop.

We decided on something simple, opting out of the big curls and keeping my hair down since my mother insisted it looked better that way. Tamara agreed that it framed my face and made me look a little older. While I wasn't exactly in agreement that I wanted to look any older, I did like the way my hair looked when we left the beauty shop for lunch. Even with my best dress, having my hair done made me feel like I needed a fancy dress to go with it. I was actually looked forward to picking out a dress for the dance.

Lunch went by a little too quickly with my mother and Tamara catching up over the last few months they hadn't seen each other, and I was content looking around the restaurant since I'd never been inside it before. It was a typical uptown diner, with a counter and leather stools. The walls were decorated with photos and memorabilia from local musical acts, and at first, it looked like a place the local teenagers would visit. Then as I looked around the restaurant, I saw him again. His hair was windblown, but his suit was immaculate. He looked exactly the same as I remembered him. I had to be imagining this.

"Keira, honey, are you ready to go?" my mother asked suddenly.

I inhaled glancing at her. "Hmm?"

She reached out to touch my face. "Are you ready to go?" she asked softly. "You have that look on your face again. Are you feeling okay?"

I looked around the restaurant, but he was gone. "I'm okay," I lied. "I'm ready to go. I actually can't wait to pick out a dress."

My mother smiled then. "Well, then let's go," she urged. "I'm sure Tamara has a customer she has to get back to."

We all stood up together with Tamara leading the way out. I reached the door last, looking around again. I had one foot out the door when I heard his voice again right behind me.

"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered. "I'm just curious about you."

I hurried away without thinking, finding my mother and Tamara as they said goodbye. They embraced and wished each other well, and my mother turned to me with a curious grin on her face.

"Well, come on, sweetie. The dress shop is just around the corner."

I inhaled as deeply as I could, allowing her to take my hand and pull me along while Tamara crossed the street to get back to her shop. I glanced behind me, but he was gone.

"This is going to be so much fun," my mother gushed. "I can't wait to see what kinds of dresses we can find."

I bowed my head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

The dress shop had four different dresses displayed in the front window, and when my mother saw them, she immediately laughed and glanced at me, pulling me inside as three or four other girls around my age browsed with their mothers. It seemed Hoquiam wasn't the only school having a Fall Dance — or a dance at least.

"Oh, this looks wonderful," my mother gushed as she stood in front of a mannequin wearing a brilliant green chiffon dress.

I also gazed at the dress, noting the shoulders a little too sharp and the hem a little too high. "It's beautiful," I agreed. "But I don't think it's right for me."

She sighed softly. "All right. Well, we have a little bit before it's time to go home. Look and see if there's anything you like."

I stepped away from her then, looking around the store and seeing dresses in red, pink and yellow, but nothing really caught my eye. I wanted something blue, and I didn't really want the shoulders dresses these days tended to have. The dress I was wearing now had very soft shoulders, and if I could find something like that or maybe even something with thin straps, I could probably talk my mother into buying it. My father would be the one I needed to convince to let me wear it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a teal lace and tulle dress with a beaded bodice and thin shoulder straps. I was immediately drawn to it.

My mother apparently saw me, and she moved to my side almost immediately.

"Oh, now that does suit you," she insisted. "You should try it on."

I didn't argue, finding my size in the rack and then looking around for the dressing rooms. My mother squeezed my shoulder, pointing off to the very back of the shop. "You go on," she pressed. "I'll keep looking just in case."

I bowed my head then, moving off to the back of the store to get a dressing room. The saleslady smiled when she saw me, guiding me to a room and then leaving me alone.

The bodice of the dress was difficult to fasten, but as soon as I had all the hooks in place, I turned to the mirror to see what the dress looked like. I jumped when I saw the brilliant ruby eyes staring back at me from the back of the dressing room. My heart jumped into my throat, and I turned to see him there with a small smile on his face.

"You're not supposed to be here," I exclaimed even as my voice trembled.

He was instantly too close for my own comfort, laying his fingers over my mouth. "Shh. We don't want to alarm anyone do we?"

I pressed my lips together, clenching my fists at my sides even as he slid his hands down my arms. I shivered still looking at him.

"You look beautiful in this dress," he admired. "He'll love you in it."

I shook again, bowing my head and praying I was dreaming. This had to be a very vivid, very disturbing dream. I was still at home in bed, and my mother hadn't woke me yet. Then he lifted my chin to make me look at him. His face was much closer now than it had been a moment ago.

"I promise I won't hurt you," he whispered, the tip of his nose touching mine gently. "I told you. I'm only curious about you. I've never met a human like you in all my 300 years. He obviously senses this difference in you. You're very beautiful, Keira."

I couldn't stop the tears leaving my eyes, and I was suddenly scared. How did he know my name? Carlisle hadn't said my name when he'd been at the house that night, and Edward had been watching me the whole time afterward. There was only one way he could've found out my name. He'd only made Edward believe he was gone. He'd followed me here.

He stepped away from me then, sitting over the bench in the corner just as my mother knocked on the door.

"Honey, I found a few more for you to try on," she announced. "You wanna open up?"

"Um, I'm not dressed. Just lay them over the door."

My mother paused, and I glanced at him as he sat by quietly. Then she spoke. "Okay, sweetie. But I want to see you in them, all right?"

"Okay," I stuttered.

She moved away from the door then, and he spoke softly.

"She cares for you a great deal," he commented. "But she's not the source of your uniqueness. That much I can sense just from her smell. Shall I close my eyes and give you some privacy?"

I mustered as much strength as I could at the moment. "I think you should leave," I ordered.

He smiled, making me feel more helpless than I'd ever felt in my life. He stood up slowly, reaching behind me and lifting the dresses over the door to hold them in front of me. After a glance over the dresses, he held up a cream-white satin dress with cap sleeves. "I think you should try on this one."

I took the hanger, allowing more tears to fall from my eyes. "Please," I whispered. "I won't tell him you were still here. He won't know about any of this. Just please leave me alone."

He laid his cold fingers over my mouth. "Shh. I won't hurt you," he said again. "Why would I do that? Someone as unique as you. I wouldn't be able to hurt you even if I wanted to. I can still be a gentleman. I won't look. I promise. _Try on the dress_."

The fear I'd felt was replaced by an overpowering need to do what he said, and he closed his eyes a moment before I took the cream-white dress and began to take the blue dress off. Though I was usually horribly self-conscious around boys, I felt no embarrassment whatsoever in disrobing to my slip and then pulling the white dress over my head. He seemed to know when I was covered, rising easily and then zipping the side from my hip to under my arm.

"It doesn't seem to matter what you wear," he commented. "You look stunning no matter what. Your mother is right. But you do look much better in the teal. It brings out the color in your eyes brilliantly."

I shivered again, squeezing my eyes shut and still feeling my heart in my throat. This couldn't be happening. Why was he here? What could I say to make him leave me alone? What could I do? Why hadn't I asked Edward to come with me, when I'd known something wasn't right about how easy this had been for him? He turned me to face him then, lifting my chin again.

"You're still afraid," he whispered. "Have I hurt you? Have I threatened to harm you in any way? You aren't a prisoner to me. I only wish to know something about you that draws him to you. I watched you with him a few times. It's almost like . . . he loves you."

"That's crazy," I argued. "I've only known him a couple of months. He's my friend. Edward is just my friend," I insisted.

He smiled. "And yet he was persistent to protect you from me. He guards you like a precious treasure. He knows you're different, but he hasn't told you. And he wants to protect you from every little thing there is out there, but he knows he won't be able to for long. That's why I made him believe I'd left. I knew I wouldn't be able to get close to you unless he let his guard down. You have a strong mind of your own, Keira. It's what sets you apart from everyone else around you."

I couldn't speak, still trying to muster whatever strength I could despite him being so close. Whatever he wanted from me, he had to know doing something like this wasn't the way to find out what he saw in me even if it made me different. I didn't understand that at all, especially since it made no sense to me. All my life, I'd felt the same as everyone else, and I'd looked the same as everyone else. I hadn't really started to feel different until I'd met Edward.

He grinned turning me back to the mirror. "I've probably lingered long enough," he whispered. "I should be moving on, and he'll need time to accept this. _When your mother comes back, tell her the other dresses don't fit, and you want to wear the teal one. You won't remember me the next time we meet, but here's to the hope that you will eventually_."

He caressed my cheek then, and before I could look behind me, no one was there.

I looked at the mirror, seeing the cream-white dress and feeling the fabric pull on my hips and across my chest. I pulled it off then, and my mother knocked on the door again.

"Baby, are you okay in there?" she called. "What do they look like?"

I opened the door with a crack, seeing her there with a worried look on her face. "The other dresses don't fit. I think I really want to wear the teal one."

She smiled slightly. "Well, all right. Show it to me, and we'll look at shoes."

I nodded. "Okay. I'll be right out."

I quickly pulled on the teal dress, replacing the straps and fastening the back before I stepped out to show my mother. She smiled as soon as she saw me, rising from her seat and moving to my side.

"Oh, that looks beautiful on you," she gushed. "That color really brings out your eyes. How does it feel? The fabric's not too scratchy?"

"No," I said shaking my head. "It feels really good. Now all I have to do is convince dad to let me wear it."

She laughed softly. "Oh, he'll take one look at you, and it won't take any work on your part. You're his baby, honey. He knows you're growing up, that's all."

She turned me to face her, and the saleslady came closer.

"That's a lovely choice," she commented. "Have we made up our minds? Is this the dress you want?"

I nodded. "Yes, it is," I confirmed.

"We should look at shoes," my mother announced.

We were in Seattle another hour, looking at shoes and hair accessories, and when we got on the road back home, I sat in the passenger seat with my book wondering what my father would say when he saw my dress. I thought about spending the night at Abigail's so we could talk about everything that had happened during school.

"You know, based on how long you were in the dressing room, I thought you might've picked another dress," my mother said as she drove.

"I didn't know I was in there very long," I insisted.

"Honey, are you okay?" she asked softly. "You've been acting strange all day. You've been a little distracted, and I just want you to know if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here."

I was a little surprised at her, wondering exactly how long I'd been in the dressing room for her to think something was so wrong. "Mom, really, it's okay. I didn't mean to seem so distracted, but I promise you, I'm okay. I had fun today. We should do this again before Christmas, only next time, Edward should come with us. I think he'd like to see the city after spending so much time in a small town."

She laughed softly. "Well, that does sound like fun. We'll have to ask your dad for the car again, but if we have another man with us, I think it'll be easier for him to agree to that."

I laughed with her, returning to my book and wondering if it would still be light out when we returned to the house.

My mother and I got back into town with just enough time to stop at the grocery store and get dinner for everyone, and it was a little colder now than it had been all day. I carried my dress up to my room, laying the box down and then turning to go back downstairs only to see Edward there with a hard look on his face.

"I felt something wrong," he hissed, moving closer and taking my arms in his hands. "Are you okay? Did anything happen while you were in Seattle?"

"No," I answered softly. "Of course not. We were completely safe. How long have you been here?"

He exhaled heavily, loosening his grip. "Just half an hour or so," he promised. "I heard you and your mother buying groceries, and I ran here to make sure. I was so worried something would happen, but nothing happened." He paused, lifting his eyes to my forehead, and I knew he was checking my thoughts to make sure.

I backed away from him then. "Stop doing that," I pleaded. "Don't you think I would tell you if anything happened other than what I say?"

He looked a little wounded at my tone. "I'm sorry," he swore. "I'm just trying to keep you safe. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"And you've been watching me this whole time," I reminded him. "I'm fine. You should go. I'm helping my mother with dinner."

He bowed his head then, moving to the window. "I'm sorry," he said again, opening the window and turning to leave.

For a minute, I felt horrible for being short with him. "Wait," I pleaded. He stopped. "It's okay. You're only doing what your instincts are telling you." He turned back to me, and I moved in front of him. "But you have to trust me. I took care of myself a long time before we met. I know it's different now, but please. Relax. I'm okay."

He stepped a small inch closer. "I do trust you," he insisted. "More than I've trusted anyone in a long time." He paused, lifting the tips of his fingers to my cheek. "I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you," he whispered.

I shivered beneath his touch, but before he could say anything, foot steps outside my room caught my attention, signaling someone was coming. Edward moved faster than he had in the several days he'd been staying in my room, dropping to the ground less than a few seconds before my father stepped into my room.

"Your mother said you bought a really nice dress," he commented.

I inhaled deeply, moving to my bed and lifting the dress from its bag so he could see it. The smile on his face was undeniable.

"Oh, that's beautiful," he appraised. "And it'll look beautiful on you."

"Really? You don't think it's too much?"

He leaned closer, kissing the side of my face. "It's perfect. Come down and help your mother when you're finished, okay?"

I put the dress down then, turning to him and wrapping my arms around him as tightly as I could. He seemed surprised, but he held on to me just the same. "I love you, daddy," I whispered, uncertain why I felt the need to tell him at that moment.

He lifted his hand to the back of my head. "I love you too, sweetheart," he promised. "Are you all right?"

I leaned back, looking up at him. "I'm all right," I assured him.

He smiled then, turning to leave, and as soon as he was gone, I hurried back to my window to discover Edward waiting on the ground.

"I'll see you at school on Monday," he swore.

"Monday," I confirmed.

He ran away from the house then, disappearing into the darkness as it crept closer to the house, and I stepped back into my room, closing the window.

I knew Edward was only trying to keep me safe. But I'd taken care of myself before he'd come along, and I knew I could take care of myself now. I realized as I descended the stairs to the kitchen that I'd never seen anyone look at me the way Edward just had. And it brought a strange thought to mind.

_It's almost like . . . he loves you. _

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**And you all thought Edward wouldn't be in this chapter at all! What do you take me for? Anyway, I hope you weren't surprised with this newest development. I wanted to show how vulnerable Keira was by herself. She's not clumsy or absent-minded. She was in real danger, even if she was told no harm would come to her. And I promise, it was all planned ahead of time, not to draw in readers.**

**The next chapter should be up in about three weeks. Keep your fingers crossed.**

**See you next time!**


	15. Stirrings

**I know, I know. It's been a little while since I updated. That doesn't mean to say that this chapter was any more difficult to write than normal. I've got so many projects going right now, I'm having trouble prioritizing. But here it is.**

**In this chapter, as the title should suggest, I wanted to show that after two and a half months of being around one another, Keira and Edward have begun to show different feelings for each other instead of the typical "It's my job to protect you" attitude Edward's been having lately.**

**Getting ready for this dance, and then actually going to it will be a turning point for them. I hope I don't disappoint for anyone who's reading.**

**Now, enough from me. Read!**_**  
**_

* * *

_**Stirrings**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

The Friday night before the dance, I stayed at Abigail's house to have a "slumber party," even though it was just the two of us. Abigail promised she'd asked Jennifer and another girl from our grade, but they'd both cited their own preparation rituals and couldn't come. Honestly, my mother had been absolutely beside herself when I told her about the night I would be spending away from the house. I knew she liked Abigail, though not nearly as much as she liked Edward — I couldn't imagine why.

Abigail's mother Phoebe and her father Cooper were nearly as ecstatic as my own mother, promising I would not only have a good time with Abigail, but I would also get into bed on time. My mother was going to spend the night practicing the hair style we'd chosen for me on herself, and I carried my dress to Abigail's after school so we could show each what we'd been able to find.

"I've never really had a slumber party," Abigail confessed as we walked from school to her house which was only a few blocks from my house. "I think my mother jumped for joy the minute I told her I was having a friend over."

Together, we laughed, and I made my own confession. "My mother was the same. I don't think I've ever seen her that elated before. Not even when she was getting ready for my fourteenth birthday."

"I'll bet you had a lot of friends over," Abigail surmised.

I bowed my head. "Perhaps, not a lot," I amended, modest. "But a few."

"Do you miss your friends from Seattle?" she asked softly as we walked arm in arm down the sidewalk.

"Sometimes. I lived there my whole life until we moved here." I heard her exhale lightly, and I squeezed her arm. "But now I've made new friends," I promised. "And I've never seen Fisher so happy."

She blushed, gently tugging on my arm to pull me up the driveway of her house. "He's going to look so handsome in his suit," she mused. "I can tell already."

I laughed softly. "That he will," I agreed.

The foyer of Abigail's house was empty as we stepped inside, but less than a minute later, her mother Phoebe came down the stairs dressed in a deep green A-line dress with an apron around her waist.

"Oh, Abigail," she greeted, "you're home."

They embraced, and Phoebe turned to me. "You must be Keira," she concluded. "I'm Phoebe Williams. It's wonderful to meet you."

I blushed again as she took my hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Williams."

"Oh, please, call me Phoebe. I've got some tea and cake in the kitchen for you girls. Why don't you go put your things away, and it'll be just us girls until Coop gets home."

I stuttered, but Abigail took my hand to pull me up the stairs.

"Cheerful, isn't she?" Abigail noted sarcastically.

"She is," I nodded. "Like my own mother. And Coop? Your father?"

"Nice how she has a nickname for him, huh?" she commented. "Think I could start calling Fisher 'Fish' one day?"

We giggled softly, stepping into her room then, and I took note of the surroundings. Abigail's room was the same size as mine and light blue, with a smaller desk and a larger chest of drawers while her bed was a little bigger than mine. She led me to the closet, and I hung my dress inside while setting my bag in the floor.

"Sometimes, Kyle calls Fisher 'Fish'," I commented as we made our way downstairs to the kitchen. "Fisher actually doesn't like it much."

Abigail glanced at me with a bit of worry in her eyes, but I quickly continued.

"But I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you called him that at all," I added, and she blushed again.

After tea and cakes in the kitchen nook with Abigail and her mother, we retreated to Abigail's room where she promptly pulled out her record collection. She had several newer labels, along with older ones from the last few years, and almost immediately, _Moonlight Serenade_ by the Glenn Miller Orchestra began playing over the small speakers of her record player.

"My mother loves this song," I commented.

Abigail smiled as she thumbed through her collection. "So," she said after a minute, "I've been noticing you and Edward spending quite a bit of time together. Is there anything you want to tell me? Other than the fact that he's taking you to the dance."

I blushed, bowing my head. "There actually isn't much else to tell," I insisted. "Rosalie, his sister, she was talking about it to his brother Emmett, and Edward noticed how I was wondering about it. And he asked me."

"But you said 'yes'," she giggled. "Surely, you must like him at least a little, Keira. Well, don't you?"

"I suppose you're right," I conceded. "He is very nice."

Abigail groaned softly. "Oh, Keira, please. He's absolutely gorgeous," she exclaimed. "He's just about the smartest boy in school, save his brother, and he's a complete gentleman. And he defended you against Ethan! How could you not like him?"

I smiled slightly. "I _do_ like him," I revealed. "But he was so distant when we first met. I don't want to throw myself at him. I'm not some . . . loose girl. Why is it that everyone wants me to open myself up to him like a lamb being led to the slaughter?"

She giggled again, despite my annoyance. "Maybe it's because everyone sees something going on between the two of you that even you don't see," she persisted. "Honestly, Keira, the way he looks at you sometimes. It really is like he thinks he's supposed to protect you from the entire male student body. Except Fisher, of course. And maybe Kyle, but it's obvious they don't see eye to eye on several levels."

_It's almost like . . . he loves you._

A stranger's voice pierced the inner part of my mind, and it felt so odd, like a dream trying to make itself into a memory.

Abigail's mother made meatloaf for dinner, and her father Cooper came in from his job at the local clinic just before dinner was served. He was tall, a lot like Edward, but the similarities stopped there. While Abigail's mother Phoebe's appearance was similar to Abigail's with lightly tanned skin and big brown eyes, dark, straight long hair and a small frame, Cooper was fair-skinned with brilliant grey eyes and light brown, curly hair. He had an easy smile and warm hands. He couldn't stop gushing about how Abigail hadn't brought many of her friends to the house since starting high school. I told him quite a few times that I was more than happy to spend time with her. She was a good friend, and I was glad to call her one of the best I'd had in a little while.

After dinner, Abigail showed me to the bathroom, and after we both finished our nightly routines, she decided it was time to show each other our dresses for the dance the next night. My dress was still hanging in its shop bag, and Abigail gasped excitedly the moment I pulled it out to show her.

"Oh, that's beautiful," she gushed. "I've never seen a dress like that before. You should put it on, and I'll put mine on so we can see them before everyone else does."

It was no problem at all to change from my pajamas to the teal dress I'd purchased while out with my mother. But as I pulled it on, the remnants of a dream-like memory made itself known yet again.

_You look beautiful in this dress. He'll love you in it._

Chills slid up my back to my shoulders, and I hesitated as Abigail finished pulling on her dress. She moved to my side slowly.

"Do you need help with the eye-hooks?" she asked, reaching out to finish fastening the bodice as I stood there silently.

Her touch startled me, and I pulled away from her unconsciously, turning my eyes to hers as she gazed at me with shock in her eyes.

"Keira," she said softly. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost or something," she commented.

I realized my heart was in my throat, and I inhaled deeply, shutting my eyes as she turned me to face her. "I'm okay," I insisted. "Just got flushed for a minute."

With that, I lowered my eyes to her dress and stepped back to get a better look. The first thing I noticed was the intricate green and blue flower pattern covering the entire fabric, and then I saw the bundle of fabric at the back of her waist. Within the flower pattern, the dress was cream colored, and it had straps that anchored it to her waist as her long chestnut tresses fell passed her shoulders.

"Abigail," I said after a minute, "your dress is beautiful. It looks amazing on you," I breathed, laying my hands over her waist as she stepped back and then did a little turn to show me the whole dress.

"I'm glad you like it," she said modestly, demonstrating the dresses length as she stood barefoot before me. "I almost didn't buy it, but what can I say, it sang to me."

She laughed softly, and I laughed with her.

I wasn't as tired as I probably should've been, so when Abigail and I laid down for bed, I found myself lying there beside her with the strangest thoughts running through my head. I couldn't stop thinking about this voice in my mind, and I couldn't remember ever hearing any voice like it before. But it felt so real, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was thinking about it now.

I also couldn't stop recalling Abigail's voice in my mind as she spoke about Edward and how he looked at me. Recently, I'd begun to feel the same way, even if I didn't want to admit it to myself. I was only fifteen. No matter what I was feeling or seeing, something like this wasn't what I wanted in my life right now. I was supposed to be thinking about school and what I was going to do after I graduated. I wasn't supposed to be wondering about a boy in school who just happened to be a vampire who also just happened to think it was his job to keep me safe. But I couldn't stop myself.

In the morning, after breakfast, Abigail and I gathered up our dresses and everything we would need to get ready before we set off to my house. I unconsciously looked around while we walked, though I wasn't sure why, and about a block from my house, I caught a glimpse of Edward hiding behind a bush across the street. I bowed my head, silently telling him to stop hiding, and within seconds, I heard him behind us.

"Keira," he called, causing Abigail to jump slightly.

"Oh!" she giggled. "I didn't see you back there. Edward."

He smiled briskly, glancing at me. "Abigail," he nodded. "Let me carry your things."

Without waiting for a response, he took all our bags, carrying them effortlessly as we all walked. Abigail blushed deeply, eyeing me suspiciously and probably thinking how nice it was for him to carry our things, but how strange it was that he'd appeared out of nowhere.

Then he spoke again. "I was in town running some errands with Emmett," he began, "and I was wondering when you wanted us to pick you up."

I looked at Abigail, knowing that Fisher was probably out also "running errands" so he wouldn't be at the house while we were getting ready. "Well, the dance doesn't start until eight," I replied softly, to which Edward smirked. "Why don't you come at six? We can have something to eat before we go to the school."

He bowed his head. "That sounds like a wonderful idea. I'll be sure to tell Emmett," he informed me as we arrived at my house and walked inside with all our bags.

Edward opened the door for us, causing Abigail to blush even more as my mother greeted us in the foyer.

"Oh, Keira, honey, how was your night?" she gushed, moving forward to embrace me like she hadn't seen me in days. "Abigail. It's wonderful to see you again."

Abigail nodded. "It's wonderful to see you too, Mrs. Jones."

"Oh, please. Call me Annabeth. Edward, I wasn't expecting to see you this morning."

He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him. "He ran into us on the way from Abigail's house, and he offered to carry our bags for us."

"Well, that was very nice of him," my mother commented, blushing herself when Edward smiled.

"It was my pleasure," he insisted. "Should I take these upstairs?"

"I'll show you," I volunteered.

He stepped back for me to lead the way, and I eased up the stairs to my room slowly. When we were alone, he hung the dresses and bags up, whispering as softly as he could.

"I'm sorry," he implored. "I didn't mean to spy on you. I can't seem to stop myself anymore. I have to know you're all right."

"It's all right," I insisted. "I know you don't do it on purpose. Did you at least keep away from Abigail's house last night? She's probably already started to notice things about you the way I did."

"I was across the street all night," he swore. He paused, taking my hands in his for the first time in a week. "Keira, are you all right?"

I stood up straight. "I'm fine," I stated plainly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

He bowed his head, his face suddenly closer to mine than it ever had been. "You know I only want you to be safe," he began. "And I wouldn't do anything to keep you from living your life. But last night, I heard something in your thoughts. A man's voice."

With his cool hands holding mine, I shook slightly with chills, remembering the voice and not remembering where I'd heard it.

"You don't remember at all?" Edward asked me softly.

I shrugged slightly. "I only know it feels like a dream, but not like any dream I've ever had before."

He lifted his fingertips to my forehead, easing a strand of hair from my face. While I was standing there thinking about it as hard as I could, I knew what he was doing. I knew he was reading my mind to see if he could figure it out despite me being unable to.

Edward stepped closer to me despite already being less than a few inches away, and even though he was supposed to be cold, I felt warm since my heart was pounding even harder now than it had in days, weeks maybe. I knew my mother and Abigail were not only right in the way he looked at me, but I also knew I'd felt just as much of his feelings in the way he touched me. After everything that had happened on Saturday, and after he'd promised to relinquish some of my privacy back to me, we had still spent a lot of time together.

Suddenly, a man's face flashed through my mind, and Edward's touch turned hard along with his voice as he spoke conclusively.

"Connor," he grit through his teeth.

"Who?" I asked quietly, absently raising my hands to his wrists as he still touched my face.

Edward clenched his jaw, letting go of me and stepping back. "I should've known that when I met him," he hissed, nearly berating himself for what he was seeing and hearing in my mind that I couldn't account for.

"What's wrong?" I pleaded.

For several seconds, he said nothing. I was afraid to move any closer, since it looked like having me close had caused this disturbance in his control.

"I should've known he had an ability," Edward growled softly. "But he kept it hidden from me."

I chanced a step closer to him. "Edward, I don't understand. Who's Connor? And what has he done?"

"Keira!" my mother called, breaking him from his growing anger and me from my intense confusion.

I jumped slightly, and Edward held me still, stepping to the door and whispering urgently.

"We'll talk tonight," he promised. "Emmett and I will stay in town until we absolutely have to go back and change. You'll be safe. I swear."

With that, he opened my door and walked me downstairs where my mother and Abigail were still standing in the foyer.

"Is everything all right?" my mother asked. "It certainly took a long time to hang up those clothes."

I blushed, and Edward laughed softly. "Everything's just fine," he lied. "I'll just be going. Six o'clock," he nodded toward me.

I nodded back, and he bowed to my mother, leaving without another word. My mind was racing over everything he'd said, and I was so confused.

"Well," my mother said. "Let's not waste any time. You two girls have a dance to prepare for."

She took my hand then, and Abigail followed us upstairs to the bathroom to get started.

Both Abigail and I had equally long hair, and while she chose a simple knot at the base of her head, my mother reproduced the hair style we'd selected a week earlier nearly perfectly. There were a few things I changed because I didn't want to outdo Abigail, but my mother agreed we both looked stunning. Both Abigail and I blushed at my mother's compliments.

I was surprised at how long it took to get ready. We had a small bite to eat before putting on our make-up, and Fisher came back from his errands with Kyle just before three o'clock. Kyle was apparently driving Fisher and Abigail to the dance in addition to picking up his own date on the way to the school. I had no idea who he was taking, and he wasn't alluding to any suggestions. I honestly didn't know of anyone who would want to go with him after the way he'd been acting, but that wasn't for me to decide.

My mother finished my and Abigail's make-up just before five-thirty, making the finishing touches before she released us to my room so we could finish our ensembles. She'd lent me a cream-white shawl to go with my teal dress, and she found a pair of my grandmother's diamond earrings for me to wear for the night. My mother found a sapphire bracelet to go with Abigail's dress along with earrings to match, and I thought my best friend was going to flood the room with more 'thank you's' than it seemed possible despite my mother insisting she was free to borrow anything we had that she needed.

The doorbell rang at six on the nose, and Fisher knocked on my mother's door less than a minute later.

"Are we decent?" he called through the door.

My mother laughed. "Just a moment," she replied, helping Abigail to her feet and then guiding us both to the door. "Come in," she requested.

Fisher opened the door then, and almost immediately, his eyes found Abigail as she stood next to me. He smiled instantly, reaching for her hands.

"You look beautiful," he admired.

Abigail blushed, glancing at me, and finally, my brother looked at me.

"Is this really my little sister?" he teased, pulling me into his arm and squeezing me against him gently.

Fisher was dressed in a double-breasted tuxedo, complete with a solid black bow tie and a pair of gold cuff links he'd no doubt borrowed from our father. He was wearing black cap-toed patent leather shoes, and his dark blond hair was combed back so that he looked more handsome than I'd ever seen him.

"I was just about to ask if this was really my older brother," I quipped, squeezing him even as he spoke.

"I almost don't want to let you go out with your date," Fisher said sadly, "but I don't think I would trust anyone but him with you being this beautiful."

I bowed my head, releasing him and then stepping into the hallway as he and Abigail followed me slowly. I looked down into the foyer, and I almost forgot to breathe as my eyes found Edward where he stood talking to my father.

He looked even more breathtaking than I could've possibly imagined. His auburn hair was strangely tamed despite it still showing a slight disarray with the shine of a polished penny. His pale skin wasn't in stark contrast next to his ivory-colored double-breasted suit jacket which was completed with a white bow tie. His black pants elongated his height even more, and his black cap-toed patent leather shoes seemed to shine brighter despite him being in a darker part of the house. Then he lifted his eyes to mine, their brilliant emerald color indicating he'd either gone hunting that afternoon or quite recently.

Edward smiled when he saw me, stepping over to the staircase to meet me, and he extended his arm to me as I stepped off the staircase.

"You look absolutely stunning," he whispered, and I blushed.

"You do too," I complimented.

He smiled wider, turning his eyes to Fisher's and then looking at Abigail. "You both look amazing," he insisted, nodding in Fisher and Abigail's direction.

My brother nodded back, and then my mother came downstairs.

"Oh," she exclaimed, "it's times like this when I wish we'd bought that camera in Seattle. Honey, we'll have to invest in one now," she informed my father. "We're probably going to be seeing a lot more of things like this. Ooh, wait just a minute!" she cried and disappeared into the kitchen.

She came back with a small tray of plastic containers I quickly realized all held fresh flowers. "Keira, Abigail, the single roses are for your dates. Edward, Fisher, the corsages are for the girls. Hopefully, you all know what to do with them."

I took the red rose meant for Edward, fumbling with the needle and absolutely certain that I must've pricked him with it, but he only smirked, taking my corsage and easily sliding it on my wrist. It was beautiful, with a bright-white peony in the middle surrounded by teal ribbons and green lace. Abigail successfully pinned Fisher's white rose to his jacket, and he put her corsage on her wrist. Hers was a purple peony with red ribbons and blue lace. I was curious about where my mother had bought these, but I didn't worry about it. And when Kyle came in the front door in his own suit, he immediately made his presence known.

"All right, kids, let's not have our own little shindig here in the front parlor," he complained. "My date's in the car, and I plan of making it to the dance on time, as opposed to some people."

Fisher rolled his eyes without saying anything, and he held out his arm to Abigail as my mother stepped in to kiss his cheek and mine. With that, Kyle led the way outside, and I immediately saw Emmett parked on the curb with Rosalie in the front seat touching up her make-up. Emmett smiled when he saw me, and Fisher stepped up beside me before he followed Kyle.

"I'll see you at the dance, sis," he whispered, kissing my cheek.

"See you there," I replied, watching him guide Abigail to the car.

Edward tugged on my arm gently, and I followed him to the car as Emmett pulled open the door to the backseat.

"You're really pretty," he admired with deep dimples.

Next to Rosalie, I took that as high praise.

I sat back and then turned into the car, and Edward followed to scoot in next to me as Emmett closed the door, and while we waited for Kyle to leave, Edward spoke softly.

"Emmett and Rose are going to take us to get you fed, and they'll pick us up from the restaurant at seven-thirty. I wanted to have plenty of time for us to talk."

I realized his meaning as Emmett pulled away from the curb, and I somehow knew he hadn't told them what he'd discovered that morning.

The ride to the restaurant was quiet, and I couldn't keep from thinking about what he'd seen in my head to prompt such a need to talk about it. I remembered the voice and the face, but there was no name. Not for me. I had no idea who the voice or the face belonged to, and I couldn't imagine what could've happened because of that. I wanted to believe it was hidden from me for a good reason, but then why could I remember certain things about it if not a name? I was also worried. What did it mean for me? Was I still in danger? Would I ever be safe?

Edward extended his hand to mine as the last word crossed my mind, and I was surprised, but I took his hand all the same. He was my friend, after all, and though there were things about him that made him just as dangerous as this face he was worried about, he hadn't hurt me in the two and half months I'd known him. And even if it surprised me, I trusted him. I didn't have any reason not to trust him now.

Despite Hoquiam being a small town, there were still enough "expensive" places in town for Emmett to pull up in front of the most expensive restaurant in town. I couldn't hide the shock on my face, and Edward smiled at me, grasping my hand gently and pushing the door to his side open. He climbed out first, helping me as Emmett rose from the driver's seat.

"Seven-thirty, little brother," he reminded Edward, clapping a hand over his shoulder. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," he teased.

Edward pushed Emmett's hand away, still smiling and pulling me back from the curb as Emmett sat back inside the car and sped away. I realized Rosalie hadn't said a word, and I was suddenly worried something else might have happened while I'd been getting ready for the dance.

"Don't worry about Rosalie," Edward whispered close to my ear. "Emmett was grumbling about his suit before we came to pick you up, and pardon me for saying, but I doubt they make it to the dance other than to have pictures taken. We don't usually do that, but since I wanted to, she thought she could bend the rules just this once."

My face flushed with blood, and Edward stopped on the sidewalk, turning me to face him. Since it was November, I was wearing the shawl my mother had given me, and his suit jacket was buttoned despite the cold not bothering him. He surprised me by lifting his hands to my face. He was cool, of course, and I shivered instantly, causing him to laugh.

"I'll never get used to that," he admitted. "I can honestly say I've never been so close to a human and not felt the need to run away. What have you done to me, Keira Jones?"

I unconsciously bit my lower lip, and he held out his arm again, allowing me to take it before he pulled me toward the restaurant.

To the outside world, the one that included my parents and nearly everyone else in town, Edward and I were two fifteen-year-old kids from the local high school having dinner at a fancy restaurant before the Fall Dance. In Hoquiam, the Fall Dance was about as important as prom, and the concept wasn't lost on me, especially when the Maitre D placed us in a booth near the dim part of the restaurant. It wasn't lost on Edward, even if he was able to hide his astonishment a little better than I was.

A waitress brought us menus and took our drink orders, eyeing Edward over her order pad and licking her lips every time he looked at her. A part of me I didn't know existed was a little annoyed by her overtures, and when she disappeared to get our drinks, Edward leaned closer to me while pretending to browse his menu.

"She thinks I look too old to be with you," he whispered. "And she thinks your dress is too fancy for you. But if you ask me, her shirt makes her look ten years older than she actually is, and she needs to step to the ladies room to redo her hair. Don't tell her I said that."

I smiled, even laughed, lifting my eyes as the waitress returned. She placed my sweet tea in front of me, and upon further inspection, I spotted several things about her that made me feel indifferent about the way she was acting. Her skin was unnaturally pale, and her brown eyes were somewhat depth-less. Her brown hair was pinned up into a messy bun at the crown of her head, and it looked like she hadn't paid much attention when she pinned it up. The maroon shirt she was wearing made her look usually tired, and I wondered silently how long she'd been working that day for it to be nearly six in the afternoon.

She placed Edward's drink in front of him, smiling broadly and again taking out her order pad. "Are we ready to order?" she asked, her voice somewhat masculine and hoarse. She cleared her throat, licking her lips again.

Of all the expensive food on the menu with no prices on it, I tried to find the plate that looked the least expensive, but it was impossible to eyeball anything at least less expensive than I thought it should've been. Finally, I chose one of the chicken dishes, also selecting a small appetizer with Edward so I wouldn't look like a complete glutton. Edward grinned as that particular thought crossed through my head, and the waitress whose name I still hadn't caught asked him a second time if he wanted anything else to eat

"No, thank you," he insisted softly.

Disappointed, she took our menus and my order, leaving the two of us alone while she took the order slip to the kitchen. The moment she was gone, Edward pushed his water away, turning his torso to me and instantly making me feel like I was sitting under a spotlight.

"I promise I'm not intentionally putting you on the spot," he assured me softly, again lifting his hand to my cheek. Another set of chills flickered through my body, and he scooted closer to me. "But I have to make for certain that he didn't hurt you, and the only way I can do that is if you try to remember him. I'm surprised the memory is so fragmented, but that says a lot about him. It means he has an ability like I do. Remember what I said earlier."

I glanced around the restaurant, feeling like every pair of eyes around us was on me as I sat there with Edward touching my face. I bowed my head, whispering uneasily. "What am I . . . I mean, what do I do?"

Without looking around us, he lifted his other hand to my other cheek. "You went shopping with your mother last week," he assessed, and I nodded. Then he continued. "Try to think of everything that happened that day. Did your mother drive, or did your father take you both?"

I lifted my eyes to his. "My mother drove our car."

"And the trip there was uneventful?"

Instantly, I was thinking of the drive from our house to Seattle. I remembered reading most of the way, only looking up every half hour or so to see where we were on the road. I didn't remember anything out of the ordinary, but then the flash of a bright memory previously forgotten became illuminated. A glittering ray of sun off to the south end of the interstate streaked passed my eyes, and with it, more of the memory came to light.

"He followed you there," Edward whispered, his voice filled with horror. "Keira, I'm so sorry. I should've . . ."

The waitress was more than a couple of tables away, and Edward sat up straight, taking my hand in his and turning me to face the restaurant as our appetizer arrived.

"Here we go," she announced, setting the dish of bruschetta and dipping sauce between me and Edward. "And your entree is just about ready," she informed me, a grin across her face as she looked at Edward.

I smiled at her despite the chills sliding up my spine. "Thank you."

It had been so long since I'd eaten in a nice restaurant. My father wasn't really one to want to eat out, and my mother loved to cook too much to set foot in an expensive restaurant for a meal she could probably make herself. But every now and then, probably once a month or so, we'd gone out as a family. It hadn't really been like that since my grandmother had passed away. When she'd been alive, she must've taken me and Fisher to a good restaurant every other week. Sitting in this restaurant with Edward brought back all those memories so quickly that I was immediately overwhelmed for the first time in months.

The waitress was long gone, off in the kitchen somewhere, and Edward scooted closer to me until he cradled me into him with my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't know."

I shook my head. "It's all right. They're good memories. I'm starting to forget her, and I don't want to. So you can bring me to a nice restaurant whenever you want." I lifted my head slowly, allowing my eyes to meet his. "Thank you."

Without really thinking of what I was doing, I leaned forward and kissed his cheek, feeling electricity flicker through my body the moment our skin touched. It was different from what I felt when he held my hand. It was much different.

Edward lifted his hand to my face again, determination filling his eyes as he spoke. "I swear to you that I will never let another vampire harm you ever again," he persisted. "It doesn't matter what I have to do anymore. You're too innocent and vulnerable, and if I have to be by your side from now on, then that's what I'll do. I was wrong to bring you into my world, but now that I have, I won't allow you to suffer for it. Keira, I promise."

The inside of my chest swelled instantly, uncharacteristically, and I felt a smile cross my lips. There was something about him I couldn't quite pin down, and it had nothing to do with him being a vampire himself. He was so . . . good, and I honestly hadn't expected it. When I thought he would lean forward and kiss me, he instead kissed my cheek, turning me to the table again as the waitress returned with my food.

"Mediterranean Grilled Chicken," she announced, setting the plate in front of me. "Would you like anything else?"

I shook my head, lifting the napkin and silverware. "No, thank you."

She looked at Edward again, appearing disappointed that he wasn't eating. Then she smiled at me. "Enjoy."

With that, she stepped away from us, and I scooted closer to the table to eat my food. I tried not to notice how Edward watched me the entire time. I remembered how he didn't need to eat the same food as I did, and I knew he hadn't touched the water in front of him. I attempted not to look like I hadn't eaten all day, drinking my tea and taking my time since the food was actually very good.

Emmett and Rosalie were back at seven-thirty exactly, and by then, Edward and I were waiting in the vestibule of the restaurant. After paying for the food and leaving the waitress a tip, he'd thought it best for us to leave the inside of the restaurant since most of the people there were beginning to watch us. The smallness of the town began to sink in then, and I realized they were watching me as I sat with a boy who was clearly older than me. Edward's mannerisms and his demeanor toward me aside, he didn't act like a fifteen-year-old boy, and I could only imagine what those people were thinking.

The ride to the school was filled with silence, and I wasn't tempted to change that. I thought about everything Edward had said, and I found myself thinking about the other vampire. I still couldn't remember his name despite Edward's revelations, and it scared me more than I was willing to admit that I'd been followed away from my house. My mother had been in danger just as much as I had been, and I knew now that Edward wouldn't have been able to live with himself if anything had happened to either of us. In his eyes, protecting me and those around me was more important than appearances. I admired that about him.

* * *

**Okay. If you've made it all the way down here, then I didn't completely alienate any of you who aren't used to seeing this. Quite honestly, I prefer Edward this way.**

**So, why doesn't Keira remember Connor? And what did he do to her? You tell me.**

**Next update shouldn't be too far off, but again, Priorities. **

**Thanks for reading!  
**


	16. Stirrings 2

**I know it's been a little while since I updated this story. I promise I've been working on it. But I've also got lots of other things going at the same time, some of which you might or might not know about. I might even have a new story to upload soon, so keep your finger crossed.**

**This chapter is definitely a direct continuation of the one before it, following up all the preparations of the dance with an actual dance where both Edward and Keira enjoy themselves. Honestly, didn't we know this was going to happen eventually? And not less than a few weeks after they met?**

**So, go on now. Read and enjoy!  
**

* * *

_**Stirrings**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

I did everything in my power not to lose control as I sat in the back seat next to Keira while Emmett drove us toward the school. I didn't want to show anyone that my instincts were beginning to take over, but I knew the moment Emmett lifted his eyes to the rear-view mirror that I was failing. After realizing that Keira had not been safe by herself in another place, I searched every moment I'd spent away from her to figure out when I'd missed this. How had I missed the fact that another gifted vampire had been in my midst? Was I no good at protecting my family? Keira? Her family?

Every time I'd read Connor's thoughts, I'd never gotten the impression that he could have an ability nearly as powerful as mine, and he'd played me like an instrument. Once I'd seen the fragmented memories of him following her and scaring her and touching her, I felt more helpless and inferior than I had in all my years as a vampire. I'd never felt so . . . possessive of anyone in my life. And I didn't want to admit to myself that I felt that way.

The school came into view slowly, and it looked normal from the outside. I tried to push all the thoughts and feelings and images as far away as I could, wanting Keira to feel that I was there with her completely when Emmett pulled up into the parking lot where nearly a dozen other cars were currently parked. I forced myself to think that all was right with the world, and the only thing I had to worry about now was the girl I'd asked to the Fall Dance. I didn't want anything to ruin this for Keira, and it was for that reason that I wanted her to enjoy herself tonight.

Emmett parked away from the other cars, and I got out first, turning to help Keira out. She smiled as she stood in front of me, and without waiting for my brother and sister, I started off toward the school with her on my arm.

"You really do look absolutely stunning," I admired softly, watching her blush.

She laughed softly, grasping onto my arm. "You can stop giving me every compliment you happen to know," she pleaded. "You don't have to pretend, you know."

My smile faded slightly, and I glanced over my shoulder at Emmett as he escorted Rosalie behind me. Then I tilted my head closer to Keira. "I want to pretend," I whispered. "When I do that, it's easier for me to focus on what really matters."

She leaned back a little, lifting her eyes to mine. "And that would what exactly?" she inquired.

I lifted my hand to hers as she still held my arm. "You."

Her blush deepened, and she bowed her head, shaking it slightly as we entered the school through the front entrance.

The hallway leading to the gym where the dance was being held was decorated with white and blue polyester banners along with shimmering sashes meant to lead anyone who didn't already know what was going on where the music was coming from. Already, I could hear the live band playing the intro of a song I should've known. I didn't know if I would able to pay attention to the music tonight, but I knew I would try for Keira. She'd never been to a dance like this before, and I wanted the experience to be one she would remember for the rest of her life — and I was swearing to myself that she would live a long and full life, with or without me.

The inside of the gym was decorated so lavishly that I didn't know such a production was possible for a small town. For a moment, I forgot I was inside as the gym floor was lined with small trees sprinkled with red and yellow leaves. While incorporating the school colors of crimson and white, along with blue to make a small dance floor, the room looked smaller than it actually was. But I liked it. There were twelve round tables around the dance floor, and each table had crimson and white table cloths with a centerpiece of leaves, star-shaped candles and gold name plates. I knew the names weren't for food. The dance was just that — a dance. But several businesses in town and in Aberdeen had actually contributed money for the decorations, and it was their names with the plates to show their contribution.

Keira and I stepped through a gold, metal archway, and as the music filled the gym to the ceiling, I lowered my eyes to hers as she took it all in with the innocence I'd come to appreciate in her. There was so much going on, and I was practically a raw nerve of instinct, but she was completely calm. Even her thoughts afforded to me told me she was only worried about one thing in that moment.

"Would you like to dance?" I asked over the music as the band began to play _My Dreams are Getting Better all the Time_ by Doris Day.

She blushed a little deeper, seeing other couples dancing and thinking of the lessons she'd taken with Fisher at her old school. Then she lifted her eyes to mine. "Maybe something a little slower," she suggested.

I nodded, easing through the students already moving toward the dance floor. I spotted Fisher and Abigail, and slowly, we made our way to where they were sitting.

Fisher smiled at the sight of us, rising slightly as I helped Keira sit and then sitting with me. "Finally made it, I see," he teased.

Keira blushed, glancing at me and then Abigail. "At least my date actually fed me," she mused to which she and Abigail laughed.

Still, Fisher smiled. "Making me look bad, are you?"

I shrugged. "It wasn't easy to find a restaurant if that makes you feel any better," I admitted.

He also shrugged. "A little," he quipped.

I smiled, shaking my head. The song changed after a minute, and more students started dancing. I saw Mr. Jennings across the gym, obviously a chaperone to the dance, and I caught a glimpse of Ms. Lockhart standing next to him. In the crowd, I saw several of the students dancing stiffly, afraid to tempt the teachers watching them. It was quite tame, actually.

"What's happened so far?" I asked Fisher over the music.

"Ethan and Jennifer were all over each other," he reported. "Mr. Fillmore and Mr. Jennings had to pry them apart. It was kind of amusing for a little while. No one else wanted to get caught after that."

I laughed softly. "That is rather amusing," I agreed.

"Keira," Abigail said after another minute, "will you come to the ladies' room with me?"

Keira smiled at me, rising with Abigail. "Of course," she laughed.

And just like that, I was left alone at the table with Fisher.

I didn't want it to be awkward. As a technicality, I was at a dance with his little sister. But a strange silence filled the space between us almost as soon as Keira and Abigail were gone. I didn't know how to alleviate it.

"This is sort of convenient," he insisted. "Us sitting here without my sister. I wanted to talk to you about her, if it's not too uncomfortable."

My eyes automatically looked for Emmett and Rosalie as they mingled with other students closer to their age. "Why did you want to talk to me about her?"

He leaned in closer. "Well, you're her friend, aren't you?" he asked in all seriousness.

"Absolutely," I affirmed.

"And you care about her?"

I didn't mean to hesitate. Was I that transparent? Could everyone else see through the mask I'd put up to keep from getting too close to anyone? Thankfully, my hesitation lasted less than a split second, and I answered him immediately. "I do," I assured him.

He grinned. "It's just that she's my little sister," he reminded me. "And even though it's my father's responsibility to make sure she's safe, I sometimes feel like it's mine as well. And you've been helping her with her science project the last couple of months. I just want to make sure she's okay. You know?"

I smiled and nodded. "I do know," I concurred. "And I've enjoyed spending time with her all this time. She's . . . a wonderful friend. I couldn't have asked for a better one. Especially with us all being new. I suppose it was fate, right? Our families moving to this town at nearly the exact same time."

His thoughts kept easing back to the last month or so before they'd moved here, and I could still see a lot of upset where the move was concerned. But now that he seemed to be with Abigail, and Keira and I were becoming better friends, he appreciated this move more than he thought he ever would. At first, I thought he would disagree with me, at least on a basic level. But he surprised me.

"I suppose so," he smiled.

Keira and Abigail returned then, and Fisher rose to meet them, pulling his sister to his side.

"Dance with me, little sister," he requested, offering her no chance of resistance as he pulled her toward the dance floor with a wide grin.

Keira blushed, glancing at me even as she followed his lead. I knew from her own thoughts that it was useless to fight her brother, and I watched with an intrigued smile as they moved through the crowd to the very middle as the band began to play _Till the End of Time_ by Perry Como.

Some of the other students looked at them strangely, but I was amused. Watching them made me think of when Carlisle had found Rosalie, for some reason, and I wondered if Carlisle had known that Rosalie and I would be so at odds with each other ten years after meeting. I knew he'd meant for her to be my mate, especially since I'd been slipping into my rebellious phase right around then. I wondered what he thought of Keira now that she was in my life.

"Do you want to dance?" Abigail asked me, bringing me out of my thoughts and making me realize what I'd just been thinking.

I looked at her wide-eyed. "I'm sorry?"

She laughed softly, moving from her seat to Keira's. "Do you want to dance?" she asked again.

As I had when Fisher had spoken to me, I instinctively looked around for Emmett and Rosalie, but they were gone.

Abigail's smile fell. "It's okay if you don't want to," she insisted quietly.

I realized I'd unconsciously hurt her feelings, and I hadn't meant to at all. I reached for her hand. "Of course I want to dance," I assured her, pulling her to her feet and then on to the dance floor.

Though I hadn't expected to be dancing with her at this precise moment, I wasn't going to deny that I _did _want to dance. I hadn't really had a chance to be so free with myself. I wanted to enjoy it a little.

I led Abigail to where Fisher and Keira were still dancing together, and they smiled at us before I took Abigail in my arms to dance with her to the song still playing.

"Do you know how to dance?" she asked, and I whirled her around gently.

"Of course I know how to dance," I admonished her with her smile.

She blushed, lifting her hand to my shoulder.

The last chorus of the song began then, and it was quiet for a few short seconds before she spoke again.

"You're a really good friend, Edward," she declared. "And not just with me. With Keira too. I can tell you really care about her."

We moved around fluidly to the music, and I pondered her words along with Fisher's. I really must have been transparent.

"I do care about Keira," I confirmed, much like I had with Fisher. "And I think you're a very good friend to her as well."

She bowed her head, watching our feet as I still moved us around smoothly. "Where did you learn to dance?" she asked with a smirk.

"My mother," I answered honestly, despite not actually ever dancing with Esme.

"Well, then she must be a good dancer as well," she commented as the song ended.

I glanced at Fisher to see him pulling Keira closer, and the moment he was close, I twirled Abigail around to face him. _Moonlight Serenade_ began playing then, and Fisher nudged Keira in my direction.

"Go on," he encouraged, taking Abigail's hand to pull her into his arms.

They moved away from us, and I stepped closer to Keira, reaching for her slowly. "Are you ready?" I asked of us dancing.

She didn't hesitate, laying her hand in mine and allowing me to spin her around before I pulled her into my own arms to begin our dance. She didn't watch my feet the way Abigail did. Her lessons with Fisher served her well, and she moved a little closer to me, closing the space between us easily.

"My mother loves this song," she whispered, thinking of how her parents still played it over their record player after dinner some nights.

"What kinds of music do you like?" I asked offhandedly.

"I like classical music," she revealed, thinking of the night she'd stayed in my house. Beethoven. Mozart. Vivaldi. "My grandmother played Tchaikovsky for me when I was little. I fell in love with it."

"Did you ever want to learn?"

She blushed and bowed her head. "I listen to it," she clarified, lifting her eyes to mine. "I've never really been musically inclined."

"And exactly when was it that you decided you wanted to be a teacher?" I nearly whispered, unaware of how close we were standing together.

"I was nine," she proclaimed. "I used to sit my mother down in the dining room and make her read to me so I could tell her how she was doing it wrong. She would smile and turn the book to me so I could show her how to do it right. She always told me I had a gift for it, even if I was only nine. She nurtured me that way. She always encouraged me to be myself."

I squeezed her a little tighter. "Then for that, I'll have to thank her."

Her blush deepened, and I smiled even more never wanting the night to end.

"Mr. Masen," John whispered next to my ear, abruptly pulling me back to reality as the end of the song came to reveal me and Keira standing closer together than any other couple on the dance floor. He cleared his throat softly, and Keira did as well, stepping away from me.

I glanced over my shoulder at him. "Sorry," I breathed.

He grinned, nodding toward the edge of the crowd, and I took Keira's hand in mine, pulling her back to our table.

"That was embarrassing," she laughed softly.

I squeezed her hand gently, allowing her to sit down before I sat next to her. "I apologize for that," I insisted as quietly as I could. "I didn't realize — "

"No, it's okay," she promised, still holding my hand. "I think if anyone else had seen us, they would've caused a scene. At least Mr. Jennings gave us the chance to compose ourselves. Really, Edward, it's okay."

I noticed for the first time that night how at ease she was being around me after everything I'd discovered at the restaurant. I thought about what Fisher and Abigail had said, and I wondered if they'd said as much to Keira. I surprised myself by admitting I wished for her to feel the same things I felt.

I scooted closer to her, glancing around to make sure no one was really paying attention to us. With her hands still in mine, I spoke more seriously than I had while looking through her fragmented memories earlier that night.

"Keira," I began, "I wonder if I might ask you something. You can say 'no,' but I need to know if the things I'm feeling are — Well, I need to know if you're feeling them as well."

She grinned, lowering her eyes to our hands. "And what is it you're feeling?" she inquired, releasing a shaky breath.

"I feel like I could be more than your friend," I admitted. "I feel more than just merely protective of you. And it's not that I don't want to protect you anymore. I never want to be away from you _at all_. I think of your laugh and your smile and the light I see in your eyes, and I always want to see those things. I feel your touch, and I only want to keep feeling it. And I'm very certain that John — Mr. Jennings saw all those things also."

She bit her lip, blushing and still grasping onto my hand. Her heart hammered inside her chest, and her breathing increased. I knew in that moment that she did feel what I felt. But her thoughts wandered back to her studies and her parents, and I wanted to reassure her.

"Keira," I said. "I know you're young. Believe me, I never imagined doing anything like this when we first met. But it's different now. Everything's different. I know you feel it too. I can see it in your eyes, and I can feel it in your pulse. It's all right. I've never done this before, but I wonder. Would you like to . . . go on a date with me?"

Her breath caught in her throat, and for half a minute, I thought she might say 'no.' She sat up away from me, and I wanted to take it back.

"It's all right," I rescinded. "You don't have to if you don't want to. I —"

Her fingers on my lips stopped me from speaking, and she laughed again.

"It's okay," she assured me. "And yes, I would like to go on a date with you. But I think you — "

"Need to talk to your father," I finished. "I will."

I looked around, hearing the music and seeing the students dancing, and I was glad we hadn't garnered any attention from anyone else. With Keira's hand still in mine, I stood up and pulled her to her feet.

"It's a bit crowded in here," I announced. "Let's go outside."

She looked around for her brothers, but when she didn't see them, she wrapped her hand around my arm and followed my pull toward the entrance of the gym.

With the darkness now having completed its hold on the town, it was also cooler now that November was half-over, and Keira hugged her shawl over her shoulders. There was a light breeze, and it was quiet. The sound of Keira's swift heartbeat was the most immediate sound I paid attention to, and her lungs pulled in and pushed out air unevenly the moment we were alone. I knew she wasn't worried about being with me, but the prospect of standing out here with no one else around unnerved her.

"Would you like to take a walk?" I asked gently, still holding her hand and gesturing toward the parking lot.

Keira smiled. "Okay," she said with a nod.

I pulled her down the stairs slowly, realizing it was inappropriate for us to be alone like this but unable to stop myself. I could be myself with Keira much easier when we were alone, and I felt like I'd been _normal_ for long enough that night.

"I never thought I would do this," she confessed as we walked across the parking lot leisurely.

I glanced at her. "Do what?"

"This," she said gesturing to the parking lot and then me and then herself. "I never really thought I would want something like this. But I guess I wasn't expecting to meet you now. That seems to have made all the difference."

I smiled as her thoughts focused on the way our hands felt entwined together. "I was beginning to think the exact same thing."

We walked by her brother's car and then Emmett's, continuing on to the sidewalk away from school. It was still cloudy, but the moon peeked through the clouds every now and then, illuminating our path. I didn't want to lead her unnecessarily anywhere unfamiliar, opting to guide her toward her house where I was certain her parents were waiting for her and her brothers to come home.

"My mother will be pleased," she persisted. "She's always liked you."

She laughed, and I did too. "She has," I agreed. "I suppose then it's just about convincing your father."

She squeezed my arm. "He probably will be resistant," she nodded. "I am his youngest child. But in the end, I think he'll accept it. He knows you've been a good friend, and no matter what Kyle says, he knows none of the things that happened at school were completely your fault. And you've been amazing with Abigail. It's not like you've been pursuing me. He knows how I feel about him being unfair to my friends. You're my friend, Edward. And hopefully, one day, you'll be more than that."

I lifted my free hand to hers, and she looked at me. "I completely agree," I said with a smile.

She seemed to know where we were going after a block or two, and she followed my lead without hesitation. The street lamps illuminated the way, along with the moon as it continued to peek through the clouds. The walk took less than fifteen minutes.

The front porch was lit by a single light by the door, and the front windows were also brightened by brilliant, yellow light from within the house. There were no shadows that would indicate someone standing by the windows, and I guided Keira to the front steps to sit down.

"I had fun tonight," she revealed. "For the first time in a very long time."

"Then I'm glad," I chuckled.

She turned to me, folding her hands over my arm. "What about you? Did you have a good time?"

Again, I didn't mean to hesitate. I'd already done several things tonight for the first time, and I admitted that I was a little overwhelmed by how good it felt. Dancing with Abigail and talking to Fisher made me realize exactly how many friends I'd already made, and even though I hadn't really planned on them being in my life now, I couldn't imagine my time here without them. And Keira only added to that feeling.

The smile on her face fell the same way Abigail's had, and she started to take her hands from my arm. I acted as quickly as I could, leaning forward and meaning to show her how much I'd actually enjoyed myself that night not a second before the door opened to reveal her mother there alone.

"Keira!" she exclaimed. "Edward. What are you two doing on the porch? Come inside. It's a little chilly out here, isn't it?"

I turned to Keira, seeing a disappointed expression on her face. I wanted to pull her aside and tell her everything. Tonight hadn't just been about taking her to a dance. If I hadn't been with her, I wouldn't have wanted to go at all. But instead, I pulled her to her feet and then up the steps to follow Annabeth into the house.

"How long have you been out there?" Annabeth asked us, guiding us into the dining room where Keira's father was reading the paper.

"Not long," Keira insisted.

"Well, it's only just now nine. You didn't stay at the dance very long. Was it not any fun?"

Keira glanced at me, her face falling a little more, and she opened her mouth to speak. I spoke instead, in hopes of expressing how much I actually had enjoyed myself.

"It was a lot of fun, as a matter of fact," I declared. "But it was a little crowded. I'm not one for crowds myself, and after a few dances, Keira and I decided to go outside. We started walking and ended up here. I hope it's all right that I walked her home. She looked like she might have needed a break from all the people there like me."

"Oh, no, that's quite all right," Annabeth insisted. "Walter and I were just about to sit down with some coffee. Can you stay?"

"I would love to," I nodded, "but I should probably be getting home. It _is_ nine o'clock, after all."

I turned to Keira, hoping to lighten her mood. "I'll come back tomorrow," I promised.

She smiled again, and while I wanted to do something more to show her I really had liked spending the evening with her, I chose not to. I took her hand in mine and squeezed it gently before I turned slowly to leave.

"Edward," Keira called. I stopped at the door and turned to her.

"I'll see you in the morning," she insisted.

I smiled then, bowing my head as I turned back to the door. I opened the door quietly, glancing back at her and waving slightly. I stepped outside then, breathing in the night air deeply and thinking for the first time that everything was finally beginning to turn around for the better.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Emmett and Rosalie came waltzing through the front door, clung to each other the way they usually were. By then, I was sitting in the front parlor at the piano Carlisle had brought from Rochester. I figured they would probably go up to their room since it was Saturday night and it wasn't like they had school the next morning. But when Emmett sent her upstairs by herself, I was surprised to see his thoughts centered around me and Keira and how we'd skipped out on the dance less than an hour after arriving.

"You really like her, don't you?" he asked, moving into the room smoothly and then sidling up next to me in front of the piano as I played absently.

I smiled unconsciously. "Am I that transparent?"

He chuckled. "Yeah, little brother. You kind of are. You gonna take her on a date now?"

Slowly, I felt myself slip into playing the first notes of _Moonlight Serenade_, and Emmett 'hmm'd' quietly.

"I know what you're going to do," he assured me. "She's nice, Edward. I like her. She's good for you."

He didn't say anything after that, squeezing my shoulder and then rising to follow Rosalie upstairs.

For the first time in nearly ten years, I found myself able to block out their incessant passion. I'd already had a similar conversation with Carlisle. I understood to be careful where Keira's emotions were concerned. And I knew to handle a talk with her father as delicately as possible. Uncharacteristically, I was praying for him to accept me the way Keira said he would. I didn't just want him to like me. I wanted him to trust me the way his daughter did. I wanted him to know she was safe with me.

By morning, I hadn't moved from my spot in front of the piano. I hadn't played all night, but some time after talking to Emmett, I'd actually begun writing a little music for the first time in years. I couldn't identify what I was writing, but after a few pages of music were in front of me, I found myself playing what I'd written softly. I didn't know what to call it, and I had no way of figuring out where it had come from. But I wrote it down nonetheless, for future reference I suppose.

I was sitting there when the sky began to brighten from the dark gray of early light to a soft pearlescent glow as it was still cloudy from a storm coming in from the southwest. The soft sound of Esme's descent from her room on the second floor signaled that she and Carlisle were emerging from their own night of passion. I didn't realize until now that I hadn't heard anything from the two of them all night. It was a strange, if not welcome feeling.

"You played all night," Esme commented, moving to my side but not sitting down. "You haven't done that in years."

I smiled up at her. "Perhaps I've found a good reason to play again," I insisted.

She didn't have to ask. I could see in her thoughts that she knew what I was talking about. She leaned in and kissed my cheek, proving she was just as happy for me as Emmett apparently was.

"When will she be back?" Esme asked, stepping away from my side to make her way to the dining room and then the kitchen.

"I'm actually going to her house this morning," I called, still playing and listening as Carlisle came downstairs. "But I'm sure she'll be back before we can miss her."

Esme said nothing back, now doing something with the flatware in anticipation of Keira's next visit. Carlisle's determined gait signaled his own entrance into the front parlor, but he didn't move to my side the way Esme or Emmett had. Instead, he watched me from the parlor entrance. He leaned into the door frame, the fabric of his shirt rubbing together as he folded his arms over his chest. His thoughts were simple, centering over the conversation we'd had the night before. He wasn't happy exactly, but he trusted me with Keira's safety. Would he eventually accept my decision to be closer to Keira? His indifference was beginning to wear on me. I knew he didn't disapprove of her, but he worried needlessly.

"I've never heard you play that before," he stated. The monotone edge in his voice unsettled me.

"I just wrote it last night," I informed him.

"You haven't composed anything since just before we — I found Rosalie," he reminded me. I glanced over my shoulder at him, still playing.

"It reminds me of someone," he declared. Strangely, I didn't need him to say her name. It reminded me of her as well.

The metaphor between us became monotonous, and he begrudgingly smiled, moving to my side uneasily.

"You know I'm not concerned for her safety," he pleaded, sitting next to me.

I stopped playing for the first time, unconsciously pursing my lips. "I know."

"And you know I only wish for this to turn out as well as you want," he continued softly.

I turned my head to him, not looking at him as I spoke. "I know," I repeated.

"Does she understand what this means?" he asked of Keira. "Does she know how invested you are in this — how invested you will be for the rest of eternity?"

I lifted my eyes to him. "She will, eventually. This is as new for her as it is for me. We're both working through it together."

He leveled his eyes with mine, his voice more serious than it had been seconds earlier. "And if another vampire comes into the area?" he reasoned. "Or, God forbid, we're discovered as having exposed our existence to a human? You know what that will mean. And you know what will happen if it's discovered that we defied the most basic of our laws."

"I'll be careful," I promised.

"I know," he nodded, lifting his hands to my shoulders to make me face him. "And I want that to be enough."

I didn't want to defy him, but I was more frustrated than I realized, groaning softly and rising from the bench away from him. "I said I would be careful," I bellowed. "I'm sorry if that's not enough for you."

He followed me, stopping me before I could leave. "Edward, please. I trust you," he swore. "I'm simply worried for us all. Especially her. I know you don't want her to be hurt. I don't want that either."

I closed my eyes then, calming myself as swiftly as I could before I spoke again. "Doing this with her — it feels normal," I confessed to him. "When I was human, if I had met her, this is exactly what I would do. And it makes me feel like I'm not alone anymore. I don't want her hurt, and I know how difficult it will be to keep her safe. But if I don't do this — if I don't at least try to make her a deeper part of my life, I'll never be whole. I want to be whole. Isn't that what you want? For me to be complete."

He softened his expression, lifting his hands to my face. "Of course I want that, son," he reassured me. "And I'm sorry I haven't been more supportive. I'll do better. I promise."

Finally, there was sincerity in his words. It wasn't that there hadn't been before, but now, I knew he was at least attempting to listen to me when I talked like this. I hadn't ever been this way, and I could see in his eyes that he didn't want me to lose what I was feeling. I didn't want to lose it either.

"I should go," I said quietly. "They'll be finished with breakfast soon. Humans are almost always more receptive after they've eaten."

He smiled easily then, releasing me without another word.

I found Emmett outside as he stood over the engine of his car, and he looked up as I came out the front door.

"You leavin'?"

I nodded. "But I'll need you to come into town later to, uh, pick me up," I requested.

He smiled. "No problem."

I left him to that, stepping away from the house and glancing back just once. Rosalie stood in a second floor window watching me with a glare in her eyes. I knew she would be the holdout, but at this point, I didn't care anymore. She stepped away from the window then, and I turned around instantly, running off toward the road that would lead me into town.

The morning air was humid but still cold. Winter was only a month away, and the temperature was barely warming into the lower 40s. Wherever I took Keira, I knew it would need to be inside. There were so few places in town other than the restaurants, and I wanted to take Keira somewhere new. I thought about where I could go all the way into town, avoiding the few trucks and cars moving along the road while I was running. Her father wouldn't appreciate it very much if I took her out and then she got sick because we spent the day outside.

Keira's street was just coming to life with people leaving for their church meetings and morning gatherings. Her house was the only one still somewhat quiet, and I paused on the sidewalk, lifting my eyes to the second floor. Her bedroom was in the back, but her two brothers' rooms were situated in front. The curtains in the window to the left slipped open just as I arrived, revealing Kyle there as he looked at me a lot like Rosalie had. I didn't let him stop me, walking up the steps to the front porch and then ringing the doorbell. I wasn't nervous, but I became a little worried. What if her father didn't think it was a good idea for her to be with me?

The front door opened then, revealing Annabeth there with a smile on her face, and she opened the screen door for me.

"Edward," she exclaimed. "Good morning. Please come in."

I followed her into the house, and she called up the stairs. "Keira, darling."

I stepped closer to her. "Actually, is Mr. Jones here?"

She turned to face me with wide eyes. Her thoughts centered around Keira and a conversation she'd had with Keira's father the night before. Apparently, they'd been discussing me and the way I spent time with their daughter. She lifted her eyes to the stairs as Keira stopped at the first landing, gesturing to the front parlor as the door stood closed.

"He's just in here," Annabeth said softly. "Reading the paper."

"Is it all right if I speak with him?"

She looked at Keira again, stepping closer to the doors and gently opening them. "Of course," she grinned.

I looked at Keira myself, nodding slightly and following her mother quietly without saying anything.

Mr. Jones was sitting on the same couch where Keira and I had begun our science project two months earlier, and the moment I stepped into the room, he lowered his paper and gazed up at me with scrutinizing eyes. Annabeth closed the door behind me, and I suddenly felt trapped. Then he spoke.

"Edward," he greeted. "Come sit down. I was hoping you would come by today."

Nervously, I moved to the arm chair adjacent to him. He put the paper away completely, facing me squarely. I'd never done what I was there to do, and I didn't know how to start. Luckily, he spoke again before I could.

"I understand you and Keira have been spending quite a bit of time together," he commented with nod.

I nodded. "Yes, sir."

"And I've heard from her brothers two different stories about your behavior toward her," he informed me, reminding me of Kyle's reaction when I'd defended Keira to Ethan.

I didn't have a quick comeback for that, and he leaned closer.

"You can relax, son," he assured me. "I talked to Keira's mother after you left last night. I'm trying not to be overbearing in this particular situation. Keira's never had a boy be interested in her before now, and this is uncharted territory for me as she's not only my daughter but also my youngest child. Surely your sister would understand since you're so young."

I realized he was speaking of Esme, and I nodded again. "Yes, Mr. Jones, she understands."

"Please, call me Walter," he requested. "And what does your sister think? Have you talked about this with her husband?"

"I have," I acknowledged. "And she said as long as I'm certain of this, she wants me to be happy."

My uncomfortable reaction to his reference of Esme as my sister seemed to show him something I hadn't meant for him to see. I wasn't uncertain about any of my feelings for Keira, and I wanted him to see that.

"It must be difficult," he wondered, changing the subject abruptly. "Not having your mother and father to give you the advice you need. I can't imagine what that's like."

I let my head drop, thinking of all the things my parents had wanted for me. I knew Carlisle and Esme only wanted the same things, but it was different now. "It is difficult," I agreed. "But I've been with Carlisle and Esme so long, it's like they're my parents. And they usually know how to guide me when I'm in need of it. But, sir — Walter, the one thing I'm certain of right now is how much I care for Keira," I insisted. "And something I can swear to you is that I'm not uncertain of what I wish for."

He clasped his hands together, thinking of how his wife thought I was already a good friend to his daughter. "And what do you wish for, Edward?" he asked me directly.

I unconsciously raked my fingers through my hair, chuckling lightly and then lifting my eyes to his. "I'd wanted to do this differently," I promised.

"Well, son, just go ahead and ask me what you came here to ask me. I'll do everything I can to not overreact the way my wife believes I will."

I pulled in as deep a compulsory breath as I could, clasping my own hands together. "Mr. Jones, sir — Walter, I — Keira and I — I haven't had a friend like her in my life before, and these last few weeks with her have begun to show me how much I wish for it to be more. And I wonder if it would be all right with you if I . . . saw her as more than a friend. I know she's young, and I know I am as well, but — And I would never do anything like this unless she wanted it as well. I wanted to do this properly — the way my parents taught me. This is — It feels — "

"Edward, it's all right," he assured me, interrupting my rambling. "I understand. Believe me, I do. I felt the same way when I met Annabeth. In fact, there are many things about you that remind me of myself at your age, and perhaps older. And I know how much Keira admires you as a friend. I might be her father, and she very well may be my little girl, but I'm not blind. I know she's growing up. And I've seen how she behaves when you're around. So who am I to stand in the way of my daughter being happy?"

I couldn't help smiling, but for several seconds, I tried to hide it. "And it's all right with you if we — if Keira and I see each other. Romantically, of course."

His eyes widened slightly. "Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm _all right_ with it. She is fifteen. But like I said, there are things about you that remind me of myself. And Keira does like you. Even her brother Kyle has mentioned it, despite his . . . underhanded way of acknowledging it. As for seeing her romantically, I think the kids these days are calling them 'dates.' And yes, you can. Honestly, I don't think I could stop my daughter from going anywhere with you even if I wanted to lock her in her room."

I let out a long breath, relieved. "Thank you, sir — Walter. And I promise, Keira will be safe with me."

He smirked and then shook his head, amused.

A soft knock flitted through the room, and I absently knew Keira was on the other side of the door. She'd been listening to us talk, and the suspense was killing her — figuratively. I looked at her father, and he nodded, picking up his paper and then sitting back with it in front of him.

I stood up gladly, moving to the door and opening it to see her there. I didn't give her time to look at her father, easing her back into the front foyer where she'd apparently been alone while eavesdropping.

"It's all right," I whispered, holding her hands in mine gently. "_Everything_ is all right. Although I think I might have to begin observing some more of the students in school after learning an interesting fact from your father."

"What was that?" she inquired.

I grinned and moved to the staircase to sit with her. "I apparently remind him of when he was my age, which would make sense since I technically _am_ his age."

She held my arm tightly. "I never thought of it that way," she admitted. "So, when will we go out on our date?" she asked expectantly.

"Isn't your family going anywhere for the holidays?" I inquired, since Thanksgiving was less than a week away.

"Probably not," she shrugged. "Most of our relatives are back east."

I pursed my lips, curious. "Well, all the same, I think it would be a good idea to wait until after Thanksgiving. That would at least give your father and Kyle a little time to get used to the idea."

She blushed and smiled. "Yes, because we both know how ecstatic Fisher will be."

I nodded once. "Yes, we do," I agreed.

We laughed together, something I'd never done with anyone, and she squeezed my arm.

"Edward," she said softly. I lifted my eyes to hers. "Thank you."

I didn't need an explanation, especially since the same feeling of contentment and happiness was also within me. Leaning closer to her, I kissed the side of her face, listening to her heart race. "Thank you," I whispered against her skin, feeling her shiver and knowing I would never get used to it. I was surprised to realize I never wanted to.

* * *

**Won't say much down here except I hope everyone reading likes how the story is coming along. I'm not getting any proverbial eggs thrown at me, so it must not be horrible.**

**Next update might be a ways out, but I'm still writing, so it'll definitely be coming.**

**Anyway, see you next time!  
**


	17. Traditions

**Yes, I know it's been a little while since I updated, but I promise I've been writing this the whole time I've been away. I don't want to make excuses, so I won't, but I hope this chapter lives up to the rest of the story.**

**I know the holidays are a little bit away, but maybe it won't be too soon.**

**So read on!**_**  
**_

* * *

_**Traditions**_

_**November, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

"I wanted to ask you something," Keira said as we still sat on the stairs in her house. "And I was wondering if you would all consider it."

We were also still alone in the foyer since her mother was in the kitchen and her father was still in the parlor. Fisher was away from the house, and Kyle was in his room.

"Us all? My family and I?" I asked.

She nodded. "I haven't had a chance to ask my parents, but I wanted to know if you and your family would like to have Thanksgiving with us. My family and myself."

I admit I wasn't expecting her to ask me something quite like that. The last time any member of my family had been in the presence of more than one human, Emmett had nearly killed an entire family and succeeded in killing one innocent girl. We hadn't risked that kind of exposure until Keira had come into my life. I wasn't sure if we were ready for that kind of interaction quite yet.

My hesitation spoke volumes even though I was only thinking of how to respond, and the hopeful expression on Keira's face faded.

"It's okay if you don't want to," she recanted. "It was just a suggestion, and I thought it would be fun if we — "

I stopped her lifting my finger to her lips. The contact surprised her, and I took my finger away. "It isn't that I don't want to," I promised. "I simply don't know if we're ready. The last time any of us were near a group of humans, Emmett — Well, let's just say he didn't behave himself. And we haven't been in a situation like that since then. I would never do anything to put you in that kind of danger — any of you."

She laid her hand over mine, holding it in both of hers as she spoke. "Edward, I trust you," she assured me. "And I trust Emmett — even after what happened. I know it's probably not something he should do, but if he doesn't learn to control himself, how will he ever be able to do it again? And you'll be there the whole time if anything happens. Right?"

I smiled and lowered my eyes to our hands. Her warmth felt amazing against my cold skin, almost like she was trying to spread it through my body. I liked the way it felt, and I wanted to keep feeling it. I wanted to spend as much time with Keira as I could, and she wanted to include my family in a tradition we hadn't upheld in all our years together. Who was I to deny them that opportunity?

"Keira, I would love to join you and your family for Thanksgiving," I smiled. "And I have no doubt that the rest of my family would agree with me. I have no idea how we'll be able to blend in as seamlessly as we do in larger crowds, but I know we'll try. Carlisle will want us all to be cautious, but even I don't think he would be able to pass up something like this."

She smiled and moved forward, wrapping her arms around me and squeezing. I reciprocated easily.

"I know everything will be all right," she said confidently. "And you can have Esme bring any kind of dish she wants. It'll help my mother feel a little less like a bad host."

"That will make her happy."

"Ahem!"

We leaned away from each other, looking behind us to see Kyle at the top of the first landing. Keira sighed heavily, and I took her hand to pull her to her feet. We faced Kyle as he strolled down the stairs.

"You two sure are getting comfy down here," he taunted. "Not sure how I feel about that."

"Kyle, please," his sister begged. "It's enough. I appreciate what you're trying to do. But it's enough."

Kyle's thoughts centered around all my behavior when I'd been arguing or fighting with other students even if it wasn't much. He refused to focus on any of my good attributes, and for him I knew this was a defense mechanism. Seeing his sister have someone like me in her life was just as uncomfortable for him as it was for his father, but while his father was willing to accept my place, Kyle was extremely reluctant.

"We can talk about this," I suggested to him. "There's no need for hostility between us when we both want the same things."

Keira glanced at me, and Kyle's sarcastic, crude exterior faded ever so slightly. I turned to Keira and leaned in to kiss her cheek.

"It'll be all right," I assured her. "Wait down here, and then we'll go into town to wait on Emmett."

She turned her eyes to Kyle and bowed her head, releasing me so I could move further up the stairs. Kyle followed me after a moment, leading the way to his room where he'd watched me earlier.

"You know I still think you're a juvenile delinquent," Kyle said gesturing to the inside of his room and moving to the desk across form his window.

"I've gathered."

"So you know nothing we can _talk_ about is going to change that," he continued.

"I still hope we can change that. It's not like I'm leading a gang or I go out every night and terrorize the town," I stressed, though I couldn't help but realize the irony in my words. "And I know you only want your sister to be safe. It's all I want."

He scoffed, unimpressed. "Oh, it better be all you want," he cautioned. "Because if I find out otherwise, no one will be able to stop me the way Fish and Mr. Jennings stopped you."

"There's no need to be threatening. I know you care about Keira. You're her brother. I'd feel like something was wrong if you didn't care about her — especially when she's with me. But she's safe with me," I promised.

"Why don't I believe you?"

The very edges of his mind were filled with disdain, overconfidence and excuses for his rude behavior, but beneath all of that, I discovered a horribly terrified eighteen-year-old boy who was still grieving for the grandmother he wished he'd spent more time with before she died. It was so sad that I couldn't feel anything but sorrow for something he knew he would never be able to take back. He knew he would never be able to make up for it, and in response to this feeling he had no defenses for, he behaved like he didn't care about anything or anyone when it became too overwhelming for him to show anyone what he was really feeling.

"I'll make a deal with you," I said. He looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. "I was planning on asking Fisher to accompany his sister and me to a nice restaurant or perhaps a movie. But if it means I can gain your trust, I want you to do it. And you can see how much I mean to keep Keira safe. I'll even convince my brother Emmett to come so you won't be completely bored."

He laughed with a measure of amusement. "And exactly why would that not bore me?"

"Well, I understand you like to play sports. And Emmett is somewhat of a sports fanatic. I think that's what it's called. So is it a deal then?"

He turned over the idea of chaperoning a date with me and his sister, and after several seconds, he gave in with a roll of his eyes.

"All right, fine. Whatever. I'll look forward to seeing you make an idiot of yourself in front of my sister," he taunted.

To prove how serious I was, I extended my hand to him. A smirk crossed his face, but he reciprocated.

"Deal," I agreed.

"Fine. Now get out of my room."

I didn't wait, stepping away from him without a word and making my way back downstairs where Keira was still sitting on the bottom steps.

She looked up as soon as she heard me, rising to meet me with a smile. "What was all that about?"

I took her hands in mine as the doorbell rang. "Just making some arrangements for our date."

Annabeth came into the foyer then, smiling at us as she moved to the door. "Oh, Emmett," she greeted. "Please come in. Edward, your brother's here for you."

"Perfect timing," I teased pulling Keira down the last few steps to meet him in the middle of the room.

"I was just getting a part for my car," Emmett explained, to which Annabeth nodded and seemed genuinely intrigued. "And I thought I'd stop by here to see what my little brother was doing after I dropped him off."

"Well, you boys are certainly out early on a Sunday morning," Annabeth chuckled. "I do hope we didn't keep you from church or a family gathering."

Emmett shrugged and nodded to me. "Nah, it's just normal for us. Got so much to do, you know?"

Annabeth thought nothing of Emmett's comment, not even about us not going to church, and I wondered why Keira's family didn't go. Then I remembered they'd only been in town as long as we had, and I realized they probably hadn't because they still didn't really know anyone. It was curious that none of the local preachers hadn't already been to their house by now, but for all I knew, they had, and Keira's family simply wasn't interested.

"Mom," Keira said from my side. "I'm sure Edward and Emmett need to get home."

Annabeth blushed. "Oh. Of course. I don't mean to keep you."

"It's quite all right," I assured her. "But as it is Sunday, and we have school tomorrow, I'll just be going." I turned to Keira. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She squeezed my hand. "Count on it."

Even with Emmett standing there, I felt no hesitation at all leaning closer to Keira and kissing her cheek as I'd done before. She shivered as my lips touched her skin and lifted her hand to my face. I stepped back slowly, toward Emmett, and Keira smiled then, waving as I left.

Emmett chuckled as I followed him down the steps to the curb, and he kept thinking about the shiver Keira felt when I kissed her cheek. I knew he wanted to tease me, but he said nothing as we slid into the car and pulled into the road. Something that astonished me was how much it pleased Emmett to see me happy, and I had to admit to myself that it pleased me as well.

"So," he said after nearly two minutes of silence. "When's the big day?"

I played ignorant, gazing out the window and admiring how the sun was trying to peek through the thin clouds. We were already on our way out of town, so a stray ray of light or two wouldn't bother anything. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on. I mean, I know I tease you a lot, and you know I don't mean anything by it. I'm serious, man. When are you taking her out?"

I smiled and lowered my eyes to my hands as I pretended to fidget. "After Thanksgiving for sure," I revealed.

To my surprise, he didn't think anything lascivious or even horribly sexual. His thoughts were oddly innocent and almost reverent. I was pleasantly amazed at his restraint. Then I thought about what Keira had asked about the impending holidays, and I became uncertain of the immediate future. Was Emmett really ready to be around such a small group of humans again?

He noticed the serious look on my face and nudged my elbow. "What is it now?"

"Keira asked me — us, our family — to her house for the Thanksgiving holidays," I announced.

The grin on his face was impossible to deny. "And what did you say?"

I smiled slightly. "Well, of course, I said yes. But you've got to promise me something."

"Name it, little brother."

Him and that ridiculous nickname. I laughed softly. "You have to be on your best behavior," I pleaded. "No unnecessary jokes or innuendos while we're in her parents' company, and if Carlisle and Esme agree, I'm leaving it up to you to keep Rosalie from ruining the day for everyone else."

He snickered but knew how important this was to me. I hadn't done anything like this in my life, and I didn't want anything to go wrong simply because Rosalie still didn't like that I was the one doing it. She didn't have to accept it, but the least she could do was keep her opinions to herself.

"I'll talk to Rose," he assured me. "And Esme will be absolutely thrilled. She'll probably bake all night trying to figure out what to take."

"I have no doubt," I agreed.

The rest of the drive was silent as I contemplated how I would ask — or rather, tell Carlisle about this turn of events. After the talk we'd had that morning, I felt like I was justified asking for something like this, and once he realized I was ready for this, I hoped he would be supportive the way he said he would try to be. It began raining halfway there, and I smelled more rain coming for our hopeful journey back into town as a family for Thanksgiving as Keira's house. The rain wouldn't be a problem for us, but I still made a note of it.

Esme was standing on the porch when Emmett pulled down the drive to the house, and I waited for him to park in his usual spot before leading the way to where she waited for us. Based on her smile, I sensed she was in a genuinely good mood. Would she be able to see the happiness on my face?

"It went well I hope," she greeted, taking my hands in hers.

"More than just well. I wanted to speak with you and Carlisle."

The serious tone in my voice worried her, but I reassured her.

"Everything's all right. I promise."

She looked Emmett and tried to read his face. He just shrugged, and she smirked at me pulling me into the house without a word one way or another.

Carlisle was reading in his study when Esme pulled me through the open doors, and the content expression on his face curved up into a smile the moment he saw us. There was no more hesitation in his movements as he rose to meet us halfway.

"I thought for certain you would remain in town until much later," he admitted. "I can see everything's all right, but what brings you home so early?"

Confidence unlike any I'd ever felt swelled inside my chest. "Well, I spoke to Keira's father, and he wasn't opposed to the idea of me seeing her as more than just a friend. I was nervous about having such a conversation with him, but it was surprisingly illuminating. I quite like him, actually."

"That sounds wonderful," Esme gushed still holding my hand in hers.

"There's more," I insisted. "Keira asked me if it would be all right that we all come to her home for the Thanksgiving holidays. She knows how different it will be for us, but I think we should share this with her. I think it will be good for us. So I told her we would love to come."

Doubts filled Carlisle's mind as his forehead furrowed with worry, and I was confused. We already lived among humans, and he had daily contact with humans at work. Wasn't this the next step?

"The last time we were with such a small group of humans — "

"Was when Emmett nearly killed a small family," I finished. "Yes, I remember. But this is Keira. He knows her, and he cares about her. And I've already made him promise to keep himself in check. Isn't this what we should be doing?" I pleaded, unable to comprehend his concerns.

"We're supposed to be leading a careful existence. Yes, we interact with them in public areas. And we occasionally meet them outside those settings. But this is different." He inhaled an unnecessary breath, glancing at Esme as he folded his arms over his chest. "In a crowd, it's easier to play on their unobservant nature. I can do it at work. You can do it at school. But in such a small group, how are we supposed to act human if we don't eat or drink?"

"I do it all the time," I argued, allowing unhindered selfishness to slip through my voice. "And it isn't as difficult as you make it out to be."

"Edward," Esme chastised, turning me to face her. "Be reasonable. Keira knows about us. She know why we don't eat or drink, and she's only just begun to accept it. And something like a dinner with such a small group would mean making the evening unpleasant for us all. I wouldn't want to do that to her family."

"But we can handle that," I insisted. "I know we can. And we've never done anything like this, not even before Rosalie and Emmett. We're a family. They're a family. This is what we should be doing."

She turned her eyes to Carlisle as he observed, and I pulled my hands from hers.

"I just thought it would help us be a family," I conceded. "But I'll tell her tomorrow that we can't come. She'll be disappointed, but I suppose I should've asked before I agreed. I'm sorry if I overstepped my place. I only wanted to keep feeling what I feel when I'm with her."

I moved passed Carlisle to the stairs of his study, leaving him and Esme in favor of sitting in my room alone. While it made sense for Carlisle to be cautious, I hadn't expected Esme to mirror him like that. She loved having Keira around nearly as much as I did, and it made no sense to me to hide that. Being cautious was one thing, but what they expressed bordered paranoia.

Knowing how Carlisle and Esme felt about being in such close quarters with Keira's family, I worried about how I was supposed to tell her that I should've asked my own family if they would be able to appear normal — even if it was only for a few hours.

How was I going to tell her about the hesitance Carlisle still felt about her and her family? He hadn't been anything but welcoming to her. I didn't understand.

"Is this really so important to you?"

Carlisle's voice startled me as I stood in front of the window of my room. It was unusual for anyone to approach me without any forewarning on my part. He noticed and moved closer to me. "You've truly become a part of her life, haven't you?"

"Yes."

"And you want us to be as connected her family as you are to her? Because it's an easy thing for one person to know about us. It's something we can easily control. But once we involve more humans, keeping our secret will become even more difficult."

I bowed my head and then looked outside to see the day already halfway over despite the clouds and rain. "I know."

His firm hand clasped onto my shoulder, and I looked at him.

"All right," he said. "We'll go. It won't be easy. But I can see how important this is to you. And I also know how long it's been since anything was so important. Thanksgiving is Thursday, yes?"

I nodded as hope filled my chest again.

He didn't say anything else, nodding and then turning to leave.

"Thank you."

A little smile crossed his face. "I would do anything for you," he reminded me and then stepped out of the room to return downstairs.

* * *

School was a blur for the next three days, which was odd for me. Usually, I could remember the smallest detail about the most mundane thing imaginable. But I was so elated at the prospect of my family spending time with Keira's that nothing else seemed to be important anymore. There was really no way of knowing what was to blame for my behavior, though Rosalie had her own conclusions and made them known several times when she knew I was at least partially listening to her. All her concerns were valid, I admitted, but the benefits outweighed the risk for me this time. If I could pretend for a few hours, so could she.

Esme cooked to her heart's content three days straight, poring over cookbooks and making dishes she thought would be most appropriate. I graciously agreed to be her taste-tester despite the food not tasting nearly as good as it would to Keira or her family. So with that in mind, I invited Keira over the night before Thanksgiving so she would be able to put Esme's mind at ease.

"Esme loves to cook," I said to Keira as we walked from the school toward her house so she could ask to eat at my house. "But with us, sometimes, it's all for naught. We don't _need_ normal food, so it's mostly just so she can do something with her abilities when she's not renovating houses or books or even clothes."

"So you wish for me to be a guinea pig?" she teased.

Honestly, I hadn't thought of using her as a test subject, and the idea was undesirable to me since I'd been the first person Esme had tested.

When I didn't answer her, she grasped onto my arm.

"It's all right. I was only joking. Whatever Esme has decided to whip up, I'm sure it will be delicious just like everything else she's made for me."

Relief flooded my mind as we walked, and it became quiet until we were walking up the front steps to her porch. I opened the door for her, following her inside where her mother was also cooking.

"Mom," Keira called. "I'm going to Edward's for dinner if that's all right!"

"Oh, hold on a second! I can't hear anything back here."

Annabeth emerged from the kitchen in a blue-polka dotted apron, and when she saw me, the smile on her face widened.

"Oh, Edward! Lovely to see you this afternoon. I'm looking forward to meeting your sister and her husband, and Rosalie and Emmett, is it?"

I nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Mom," Keira said again. "Edward asked me to his house for dinner. Is that all right?"

Annabeth blushed. "Well, of course, it's all right. Just be back before eight. I'll need your help getting everything put away for tomorrow."

Keira stepped forward, hugging her mother and kissing her cheek. After another few seconds, she returned to my side nudging me out the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow," I waved.

Annabeth nodded, still smiling and laughing, and then we were outside walking down the steps to the front walkway.

"My mother really likes you," Keira teased poking me in my side gently.

Surprise flickered through my torso as her touch left a mark on me. "Well, I like her. She's a nice woman, and she's raised a wonderful daughter." I leaned over with my lips on Keira's cheek. "A beautiful daughter."

She shivered, and I slid my hand down her arm to take her hand in mine.

"Come on. If we hurry, we can still beat Emmett and Rose to the house."

She giggled, allowing me to pull her along the sidewalk silently.

Because we had to feign walking normally through the neighborhood, it took a minute or two to find a spot hidden well enough for us to duck into, but once there, I lifted her in my arms and held her against me.

"You ready?"

She nodded, wrapping her arms around me securely and laying her face in the bend of my neck. Her scent enveloped me, and I grasped onto her tight a split second before shooting off from our hiding spot. From there to the edge of town took less than a minute, and as the last house passed me by, I sped up, running as fast as I possibly could. She never moved or spoke, keeping her eyes shut and her arms around me.

The house came into view less than six minutes after leaving town, and I smiled triumphantly at the realization that Emmett and Rose were nowhere to be seen. I carried Keira to the porch, setting her down and then allowing her to sit before I followed her.

"Are you all right?" I asked softly, touching her face and tucking hair behind her ear.

She nodded, breathing deep and lifting her hand to my arm. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that," she gushed. "You're so fast!"

I laughed softly, laying my hand over her cheek. A shiver rippled through her body gently, and I scooted closer to her. "I wanted to do something the other night after the dance, but there wasn't any time."

Blushing deeply, she lay her hand over the back of mine and bit her lip. "What is that?"

Heat from her face permeated mine as I leaned in closer. It would be so easy to kiss her now, even though the moment was passing so quickly. Soon, Emmett would be home, and it wouldn't take much for him to realize what I'd done if I did it.

"Edward," she whispered.

The familiar crunch of gravel beneath Emmett's car signaled that I'd run out of time, and I lifted my lips to her forehead as I glanced out at the front yard a moment before the hood of Emmett's car became visible.

Leaning back to look at Keira, I lowered my hands to hers. "There will be plenty of time for that later," I promised her.

With that, I pulled her to her feet. The door opened then, allowing Esme out in her own apron, and she smiled the moment she saw Keira.

"Oh, Keira darling, here you are. Come on in. It's getting cold out here."

I couldn't argue with that, but with the way Keira's heart was pounding, I wondered if she would've noticed the cold at all eventually.

The kitchen was filled with warm, homey smells as the counters lay littered with every kind of gravy possible, three different styles of mashed potatoes, New England style stuffing and the local kind of dressing. Celery, sage, pepper and poultry seasonings assailed my senses as soon as we stepped into the room, and Esme hurried to the cupboard by the sink to pull out a full place setting for Keira.

"You must be starving," my mother exclaimed, laying a plate with silverware and a tall glass of milk in front of Keira at the bar. "I sometimes wonder what they're feeding the children with what Emmett tells me."

Keira blushed. "It's not that bad," she insisted, glancing at me. "Though I will agree it could be better."

"So this is going to be your first Thanksgiving here?"

The blush in her cheeks faded slightly, and her eyes turned sad. "Yes. The first without my grandmother."

Esme looked at me, and I shook my head.

My mother extended her hand to Keira's. For several seconds, none of us said anything. Silently, Esme stepped over to the stove and pulled out a platter of freshly baked turkey to set it on the bar island with the potatoes and gravy.

"We'll have to take most of this to the shelter in town," she said sadly. "But at least I'll have a real taste-tester giving me an honest opinion before I subject other humans to my cooking."

Keira smiled. "Don't be silly," she laughed softly. "Your cooking is amazing."

Esme nodded just once. "Well, thank you. Now, what shall we try first?"

After a glance in my direction, Keira spoke with more confidence than I'd heard from her in a while. "We'll try turkey and gravy, with stuffing and mashed potatoes."

In seconds, everything Keira asked for was on a plate in front of her.

By the time Keira was full and ready to go home, she'd had a sampling of every dish in the kitchen. She gave Esme rave reviews on the turkey and stuffing, and she loved the homestyle potatoes with brown gravy. Esme pulled out two different desserts at the end of her sampling, and Keira gushed over the lemon creme cake despite insisting the pumpkin cheesecake was just as delicious.

Esme packed up a couple of plates of left-overs for Keira to eat in the days to come while sealing up everything else in plastic so it could go in boxes. It was all still warm when Emmett and I packed it in the car to take it into town to the shelter there.

"Everything was delicious," Keira assured Esme. "And you should definitely bring that lemon creme cake tomorrow. We'll all have trouble getting it away from Kyle."

"He likes lemons?"

Keira laughed, glancing at me. "He does. He also likes creme cake."

Esme nodded. "Then we'll put that on the list."

"We should get going," I announced.

With a compulsory breath, Esme stepped forward and embraced Keira. "We'll see you tomorrow then."

Keira squeezed my mother, and after a few seconds, we stepped onto the porch to leave.

Emmett was already waiting in the driver's seat when we emerged from the house, and with the food in the front seat beside him, I helped Keira into the back seat. He didn't say anything about the way I was behaving. He didn't have to. For the duration of our ride into town, his mind was flooded with every lascivious thought he could conjure up without his face cracking into smile.

The shelter was our first stop, and Keira and I agreed to carry everything inside. The local Catholic church usually ran the shelter, several nuns were already in the kitchen preparing what food they had for the several people in their charge. I had to commend anyone who gave their lives to serve other less fortunate. Once in my life, I'd wanted the same thing. These women had simply gone about it in a different manner.

"Sister Mary James," Keira greeted to the middle-aged woman who let us in. "How are you today?"

"Oh, we're doing all right, I suppose. Trying to make due with what we have."

She motioned for us to follow her, and we stepped inside the chapel as it set empty.

"How many people do you have in the shelter?" Keira asked.

"Nearly seventy. A few families, but mostly military who are unable to integrate back into the community. We're doing the best we can, but they're wounded — some on the outside, some on the inside."

"Well, we have food for all of you," I offered. "It isn't much. My mother went a little overboard in the kitchen."

Sister Mary James glanced at me and the food in my hands. "Of course."

We made it to the kitchen where a few other women were cooking, and they all looked at us the moment we stepped into the room. The cold storage of the kitchen was only half stocked. I was a little embarrassed at the amount of food Esme had made for just one person. With a little hope, the food remaining would feed more than a few families.

_That's one of those new boys at the school._

_My gosh, he's pale._

_I hope that young lady remembers her manners around him._

The thoughts of the women staring at us were enough to make me uncomfortable, and I kept my eyes on Keira as Sister Mary James led us into the cold storage.

"We'll be able to feed more people with this food," she said to us. "I'm sure they'll all be very thankful."

"It's the least we could do," Keira said with a nod.

"We should get going," I announced. "Emmett won't wait forever."

"Well, thank you two very young people for bringing all this food by," the sister smiled, reaching for our hands.

I held hers only briefly, watching her face carefully as she lifted her eyes to mine.

_Such a strange, polite boy. He must be ill and not know it to have his hands be so cold._

No one said anything as she nodded for us to follow her out of the kitchen. The path we took back to the front doors was silent, and she thanked us again before releasing us to the cool autumn night already taking its hold on the town.

"So, how'd it go?" Emmett asked.

"Well, I thought about praying you'll mind yourself during dinner tomorrow, but then I realized what a long shot it was, so I decided against it."

He smirked and nodded without saying anything as he pulled away from the curb slowly.

The front of Keira's house was still lit up. While Emmett waited in the car, I walked her to the front door.

"You know my father is really looking forward to meeting Esme and Carlisle," she said as we reached the porch. "I think he wants to talk to them about our date."

I bit my lip and grinned. "If he's looking for any opposition, he won't find it from Esme. She's practically glowing with happiness at this turn of events. If it weren't for Rosalie, I think we'd all be looking forward to this."

The smile on her face faded slightly. "You don't think she'll . . . do anything to ruin it, will she?"

"Oh, no, not intentionally," I said quickly. "But it's Rosalie. She won't be happy unless at least one other person is uncomfortable."

Keira also bit her lip. "She'll have a little trouble this time then. Because my mother and Fisher are both ecstatic enough to light up the whole town, and Kyle and my father are curious and suspicious enough for the rest of us."

"And what about you?" I asked stepping a little closer to her. With Emmett so close, I couldn't do what I really wanted, but I couldn't deny the pull I felt toward her.

"Can't I be neutral for once?" she grinned.

I smiled slightly. "Of course you can. Just this once."

Not wanting to take the chance of giving Emmett anymore ammunition for the next day than I already had, I stepped back to the door and opened it for her.

"Tell Esme again how wonderful her cooking is," she requested.

I nodded. "I'll be sure to do that."

We stepped inside together, and Annabeth came out of the dining room in her apron.

"Oh, honey, you're home! We weren't expecting you for another hour or so."

Keira looked at me, surprise in her eyes as she turned her attention to her mother. "Well, it's still the middle of the week. And we're having company tomorrow."

Annabeth blushed at me.

"Well, I'll just be going," I said. Keira turned to face me. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She smiled. "Okay."

I moved to the door then, leaving silently and returning to the car as Emmett waited. He didn't say anything to me as he backed out of the driveway, and I didn't say anything to him. As long as he behaved himself the next day, I didn't need him to say anything.

Nighttime passed as it always does for someone without the inability to sleep, and I spent most of my time recalling everything I'd spoken to Mr. Jones — Walter — about concerning my date with Keira. I wanted to take Keira somewhere we'd never been before, but despite my extensive knowledge of the area, I was coming up blank. There was a movie drive-in just outside Aberdeen, but we'd already been to the movies even if I couldn't say we'd gone there together. It would have to be somewhere comfortable for our chaperones as well, and with Emmett and Kyle to keep us apart, would it be appropriate to go to any of the normal teenage dating locales nearby?

"If you ponder any harder, you'll give yourself wrinkles," Esme said from my doorway, startling me unexpectedly.

She smiled curiously. "Are you all right?"

A compulsory breath filled my lungs. "I'm . . . pondering," I grinned.

Slowly, she stepped into the room and moved to my side as I stood by the window. I was surprised to see the sun already rising.

"Might I ask what you're pondering about?" she asked with her own grin.

The words remained stuck inside my throat as I stood there. Had I been speaking to my own mother, I would know exactly what to say, but it was different now. I was different. Everything was different.

"Is this about your date?"

I nodded silently.

"Are you worried something might . . . happen?"

Worry creased her forehead, and I quickly assured her.

"No, it isn't like that. She trusts me. I just — I want to do different things with her. I want to show her different things. And I guess I want to make sure she's okay with me being different."

Esme smiled and lifted her hands to my face. "If she had any kind of problem with you being different," she said, "I don't think she would be spending so much time with you. And she wouldn't have asked us to her house if she had a problem with us being different. You shouldn't worry about what to do when you're with her. It will all come naturally — just as everything else has. All right?"

Despite not really giving me any idea what I was supposed to do, her words calmed me, and I nodded.

"All right."

"Emmett and Rose are going hunting this morning before we leave," she said. "Do you want to go? It might take your mind off things."

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed, "but I'll be fine. Emmett needs to hunt. Hopefully it will keep him full enough to not do anything irrational."

She nodded herself and turned to leave.

"Thank you," I said.

With a smile, she turned out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts.

We took Carlisle's car to town, and I rode in the front passenger seat with Esme between us while Emmett and Rosalie shared the backseat. Even after a much needed meal, Rosalie was still adamant about being stubborn throughout this endeavor I was forcing our family to endure. Esme and Carlisle were looking forward to meeting Keira's parents, and Emmett kept mentioning something about talking to Kyle about chaperoning the date he'd been volunteered for.

Several houses along Keira's street were filled with cars when we pulled down it, but hers was the only one with room still left. Carlisle had already told me he was on call at the hospital and that we would probably have to leave at a moment's notice. I knew he was simply giving us all a good reason to leave when things became uncomfortable, not just for us, but for the humans as well. Whether or not the humans would realize that was another subject all by itself.

I led everyone to the porch, ringing the doorbell and waiting only half a minute before Annabeth opened the door.

"Oh, you're right on time," she greeted, reaching for my hand and allowing me inside as Carlisle and Esme followed. "Oh, it's so good to finally meet you! You must be Edward's sister and brother-in-law. I'm Annabeth, Keira's mother."

Introductions filled the foyer for several minutes, and Annabeth called Keira and Fisher down.

"Fisher invited Abigail," she said as she showed us into the front parlor as it set empty. "She got here a little bit ago. I had to send Walter to the store for a few last minute things. I hope you're all hungry. I'm afraid I've maid plenty — enough to feed a small army."

"Well, on that note," Esme said, "I brought something for us all. I practically cooked a cookbook's worth of food trying to make the right dish. I must admit, Keira helped me last night. It's a pumpkin cheesecake. I decided to try something festive."

"Oh, well, that's lovely. I'm sure it'll taste wonderful. Please, make yourselves comfortable," she gestured to the couch and chairs as she took the pie from Esme. "Walter should be back any minute, and we'll see about dinner."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Carlisle asked.

"Don't be silly. You're our guests," she insisted as Keira, Fisher and Abigail came downstairs. "It'll just be a few more minutes."

She changed places with them, and when I saw Keira, a smile naturally spread across my face.

"Punctual as always," Fisher smiled. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your family?"

I laughed softly, turning to face Esme and Carlisle. "This is my sister Esme," I gestured, and Fisher took her hand, a peculiar smirk pricking at his left cheek. "And this is my brother-in-law Carlisle. You already know Rosalie, and that's Emmett, my . . . older brother."

Emmett waved from his spot on the couch, a knowing grin on his face. Rosalie didn't say anything one way or another, but it looked like Fisher was accustomed to it.

"Carlisle, Esme, this is Fisher, Keira's older brother. And this is Abigail. She's a friend of Keira's — and mine."

Esme smiled, reaching for Abigail's hand. "Well, it's wonderful to meet both of you. The two of you look beautiful together."

Abigail blushed, and Fisher did a little as well. Esme probably would've blushed if she'd been able when she saw their reaction.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that — "

"It's okay," Fisher insisted. "We're still trying to figure it out ourselves."

Keira stepped closer to me, gently wrapping her hand around my arm. "You look a little conflicted. Is something wrong?"

I lifted my hand to hers. "Of course not. I still don't know where I'm going to take you for our date, but if Emmett has his way, we'll probably go somewhere local. He keeps thinking about the drive-in."

She laughed softly. "Then I'll be sure to wear my coat."

A light laugh bubbled up gently, and the front door opened to allow Walter inside with a few paper sacks filled with various items.

"Is it just me, or do we have a few extra people in the house for some reason?" he chuckled.

Annabeth met him in the foyer then, and while she took the paper sacks and disappeared to the back of the house, he stepped into the foyer to greet us.

"Walter Jones."

Carlisle stepped up first. "Carlisle Cullen. It's a pleasure to meet you, Walter. Keira's told us so much about all of you."

"Likewise." Walter smiled and turned to Esme. "You must be Esme."

"It's so good to finally meet you. You have such a lovely home."

"And I'll be sure to tell Annabeth for you. Come on into the dining room. I'm sure everything will be ready in just a couple of minutes."

He led the way the across the foyer, and Kyle came downstairs as we emerged from the parlor. No one said anything as we all stepped into the dining room.

Though I couldn't say much for my family or myself, dinner was delicious for every human in the room — Keira, especially, since I had to experience it all vicariously through her. It was difficult to pretend when none of us actually ate any of the food on our plates, but Carlisle kept Walter engaged in a boring conversation about work while Esme asked Annabeth about the decorations and apparent renovations done to the house we were all sitting inside.

Rosalie excused herself less than halfway through the meal, citing an upset stomach, and not long afterward, Emmett asked Kyle if he planned on listening the game playing that afternoon. The four adults left the table involved in their own subjects of choice, and Kyle and Emmett left to turn the radio in the parlor on so they could listen to the game. That left me, Keira, Fisher and Abigail to nibble on the food left at the table.

It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but I must've been squirming because Keira pulled me to my feet to leave the dining table without a word to her brother.

"That wasn't exactly a disaster," she commented pulling me through the house to the sunroom in the back.

I laughed softly. "Well, if that was a success, then perhaps we should have Christmas at my house," I teased.

She sat on the rod iron bench away from the door, and I sat with her. "Okay," she agreed.

I looked at her, at the happiness in her face and realized she was serious. "Keira. I don't know if that would be a good idea. This isn't over yet. And in a month — "

Despite her smile fading slightly, it did nothing to diminish her joy. "But this was fun," she insisted. "I mean, I'll agree it hasn't gone like clockwork, but have my parents or my brothers noticed anything unusual?"

I shook my head. "No, but — "

"Have they asked any strange questions about you or your family?"

"No, but that doesn't mean they won't as time goes on. You did. And the more often humans observe us, the more easily they notice things. I told you about the Volturi. If they find out we allowed just one human to know about us — I can't even think of what would happen if I allowed them to know about you. I can't think of what I would do if something happened to you. You have to understand. I enjoyed this, yes, but please. We can't risk anymore."

"Edward," she whispered. I lifted my eyes to hers. "You've known me nearly three months. Has the sky come crashing down around us? Has the earth swallowed us whole? You're being cautious, and I understand that. But it's a month away. In that time, the only thing my parents will remember is how wonderful a time they had with you here."

"And what about Fisher?"

She shook her head. "What about him?"

I glanced around, listening to make sure we were still alone. "You know he has . . . suspicions about me and my family. They grow the longer you're around me. Exposing your family to us is one thing — a one-time thing. But allowing another human to know of us — It's not safe. I can't — I couldn't do that to your family."

She also glanced around the room, thinking of the few times her brother had wondered about me and asked questions about me. She knew I was right, and she didn't like the fact that we couldn't do anything like this again.

"I want to," I assured her. "I liked doing this. I've felt more normal today than I have in a very long time. But I can't put any of you in danger like this again just so I can feel like this again. It's not safe."

Slowly, she eased away from me and folded her hands in her lap. "So I guess this means we won't be going on our date."

"Why not?"

She lifted her eyes to mine. "Well, if it's too dangerous for my family to be around you and your family a month from now, then how can it be okay for us to spend anymore time together?"

I took her hands in mine as gently as I could. "You know the risks, Keira," I whispered. "They don't. And it sounds harsh, but sometimes, ignorance is better than knowledge. And I can protect you. I _will_ protect you."

Nothing I said seemed to convince her, but she looked at our joined hands and stared almost a minute before she nodded.

"Okay. Then I'll just have to convince you that it will be all right."

I opened my mouth to argue, but Carlisle called for me from the doorway.

"Edward, the hospital just called," he said as he pulled on his coat. "I told them I would be here if they needed me. We all have to go. I'll drop you off at the house before I go."

I looked at Keira, still holding her hands, and I pulled her to her feet to walk her back into the house. Emmett, Rosalie and Esme were all getting ready to leave, and I followed their lead.

"So I'll see you at school at least," Keira said to me.

I smiled at her. "Of course."

"It was wonderful having you," Annabeth said from her side. "We should do this again."

Carlisle smiled cordially. "Perhaps. And thank you for having us. It was lovely spending time with you."

Annabeth smiled, and with a nod, we all left their house to return to ours.

I thought about what Keira had said all the way back to our house, wondering if she realized how dangerous this really was. I'd already risked her life by allowing her to know me and my family.

How could I endanger her family by continuing to expose them to us?

* * *

**Again, I know it's been a little while. And I promise I'm going to do my absolute best to have the next chapter out as soon as I possibly can.**

**Thanks to everyone for readings and putting my story on your faves and alerts. I really appreciate it.**

**Until next time.  
**


	18. Traditions 2

_**LOOOONG chapter this morning. I know it's been too long since I updated, but hey, I've got three going on at once. And plus, with the Christmas-y theme of this chapter, I really wanted to post it in a Christmas-y month. Not that I've been keeping it under wraps or anything.**_

_**Now, keep in mind that while I'm trying to keep in line with many canon aspects, this story will soon take on a very AU feel.**_

_**For right now, I'll see you at the bottom.  
**_

* * *

_**Traditions**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

After a lot of planning and pleading with my mother and father, and with a healthy dose of threatening Kyle, Edward and I decided to wait a week after Thanksgiving to go on our first official date. December 1. I marked it on my calender — and I wrote about it in my journal. With very little idea of what we would do on our date, I'd suggested that we give in to Emmett's suggestions of the drive-in. It was a safe place to go, and I figured Kyle would find something to talk to Emmett about so it wouldn't be completely awkward. But then again, I was going on a date with a vampire, and his vampire brother was going to be chaperoning us with my older, arrogant brother who was convinced the night was going to end in tears. Mine or his, I wasn't sure just yet.

Awkward would be a state of mind.

The night before, I went through my whole closet trying to find something I hadn't worn with Edward. If we were going to be at the drive-in, I knew I would need a layered jacket, and I decided to wear a nice wool dress I hadn't worn since the Christmas before. My mother would give me stockings to keep my legs warm, and maybe I could even take a blanket — for me at least.

Sun was shining into my room bright and early when I woke from the late night musings of putting out my clothes. My bed was warm and comfortable, and I was keen to stay there for a little while longer until someone knocked on my door.

"Wakey-wakey," Fisher giggled creeping into my room slowly.

I mirrored his goofy grin, laughing myself. "You're being ridiculous," I teased.

He shrugged. "I can be happy for my baby sister going on her first date. And I might be thinking about what to get for her birthday. You can bet your mystery novels I won't be buying you a Christmas present with it like I did last year."

I gasped mockingly. "That's not fair," I exclaimed.

"You're going to be sixteen in less than a month, kid. Get used to it. You comin' down for breakfast?"

"Of course."

He smiled and left closing the door, and I laughed again.

It was the day of my first date, and my big brother was acting like Peace on Earth had been declared.

I should've laid there long enough for him to come back, but instead, I eased out of bed with a pair of regular clothes so I could at least get ready for my day.

Apparently, I was the late-riser in the family when I got to the dining room, my parents and brothers were all waiting — well, my mother, father and Fisher were all waiting. Kyle was sipping on his juice and nibbling on a piece of toast. He saw me come into the room first, smiling over his glass.

"Mornin', little sis," he teased.

I inhaled, swallowing my remark and moving to my chair beside Fisher. He stood up and pulled my chair out.

"You look like you had a good night's sleep," he grinned, like he hadn't been in my room earlier playing the big brother.

I smiled at him. "I did," I declared, sitting down and scooting closer to the table.

He sat back down, and my mother passed me the platter of eggs.

"You must be so excited," she giggled.

I glanced at Fisher, still seeing the goofy grin on his face, and when I bowed my head, my father spoke.

"I'm still not sure I'm comfortable with this," he avowed. "But I have met the boy's parents, and so far, I feel comfortable that he won't do anything I don't like."

I blushed as I sat there, and before I could voice my pleas for them to stop, Kyle spoke up again.

"Please, it's just a date. Let's not roll out the red carpet for her. I'm the one who has to take her and her stud out for the little event. You should all feel sorry for me."

I looked at him, surprised but no longer embarrassed.

After breakfast, I helped my mother in the kitchen. She made me clear all the dishes from the table while my father and brothers all took the car into town. I was a little suspicious of their behavior. I hoped they weren't trying to spring a surprise on me. I wasn't looking forward to leaving for my date with Kyle and my father scrutinizing my dress or the fact that I planned on wearing my hair up.

While I was standing in front of the sink, my mind kept wandering. I kept thinking about everything Edward had said at Thanksgiving. He was worried about exposing my family to their existence, and I understood that. My parents and brothers didn't suspect anything odd about Edward or his family despite Fisher wondering things about him. My brother was more like me than either of us liked admitting, and it didn't usually stop with the fact that we'd both been close to our grandmother. Without her, the glue that kept us together hadn't diminished, but now there was something else keeping us in each other's lives. Now I knew it was Edward.

Trying to convince myself that Fisher couldn't figure out what Edward was didn't seem very easy, but I kept trying. My brother wasn't stupid or unobservant or arrogant to think no one like Edward could be in my life. It didn't have anything to do with Edward being a vampire — or maybe it did, but I wasn't focusing on that. Hope that my brother would give me the benefit of the doubt was my main ally, and I held onto that with both hands and all ten fingers.

The dishes seemed to clean themselves in the time I stood in front of the sink. I barely remembered putting them up before I left the kitchen and went upstairs to my room. Since Edward and I had chosen a Saturday for our date, we decided to forgo our usual hike through the woods near his house. It wasn't easy to give up. We already had plenty of material for the project, and it would've only entailed a walk with Emmett keeping us company. I liked Emmett, but not enough to want to traipse through the woods with him _and _Edward.

My journal was still setting where I'd laid it the night before, on my desk in front of my window. I sat down and opened it to the beginning, looking at the date and realizing that I'd started writing in it before my grandmother had passed away.

_February 20, 1945._

_I was supposed to go to my Grandmother's house today, but she's sick. At least, that's what my dad says. I don't really know what to think. The last time I visited her, she was fine. We went ice skating. She made me hot chocolate. She taught me how to make sugar cookies, and I burned three batches before I got it right. Fisher is worried about her. Kyle is talking about ignoring my father and going to see her anyway. He doesn't like following rules anymore. I hate to admit that I feel the same way. Kyle and I don't usually agree on much, and when it comes to obeying our father, we agree even less. Somehow my mother has instilled a stronger sense of respect in me than he seems to exhibit. Fisher thinks we could hole up in the attic and spend all day going through our family's heir looms. He wants to distract me. I want him to distract me. But I don't know if it will work. I want to see my grandmother. I haven't seen her since last month, which is odd. I hate having to go to school._

A knock on my door pulled me from reading my journal, and I realized I must've lost track of how long I sat there. When I looked up, the sun was much higher in the sky than it had been when I sat down.

"Keira," Fisher called through the door. "You okay in there?"

What was I supposed to say?

I was supposed to be happy about going out with Edward. I should've been trying on other dresses and picking out shoes, begging my mother to let me wear her antique diamond earrings.

Instead, I was sitting there wondering how I was going to convince Edward that it would be okay for our families to be together. Could I make him see it would be all right, that no one would get hurt so long as we were both very careful?

I didn't say any of this to Fisher, of course. So I lied. "I'm fine. Just going through clothes."

"Well, come down for lunch when you're ready, okay?"

"Okay."

Lunch.

It was lunch already. Edward and Emmett would be here in less than six hours. We — me, Edward, Emmett and Kyle — would all be going to the drive-in and then — I didn't know what.

All I really knew was that I was going to make Edward feel comfortable and safe with the idea of us spending Christmas together. I knew he wanted it. I just had to make him see how good it would be.

That meant I had to talk to Kyle. God, how I wish I didn't have to.

Fisher and my mother were making sandwiches in the kitchen when I made my entrance, and at first, I was surprised to see them sitting at the table across from the sink. Then I realized my father and Kyle were both gone, and I was curious.

"Where's Dad and Kyle?" I asked, taking a seat next to Fisher.

He looked at our mother. "Well, Kyle stayed in town to finish a few things he said were . . . exceptionally important — which means he didn't want to be cooped up in the house until it was time for him to take you on your date. And Dad — "

"Got a call from the sheriff about a house that might have been broken into on the outskirts of town," our mother finished.

"Which house?"

She looked at Fisher, and he looked at me again.

Their hesitation caused an increase in my pulse, and Fisher quickly lifted his hand. "I think he said it was the Conway house east of here," he assured me.

I should've still been worried about that, but a part of me was relieved. Our mother passed me a plate with a turkey sandwich already on it with crackers on the side, and I tried not to look like I'd just been told a distant relative came out of the woodwork.

"You mean Ethan Conway?" I asked, and I promise it was genuine curiosity.

"I think so," Fisher nodded.

I didn't think about it anymore, eating my sandwich and sitting with my mother and my brother while I waited for the time to pass until my date with Edward.

Going over conversation starters for convincing him that Christmas together would be a good idea was part of my plan for the afternoon. I still wondered about what Kyle was doing in town, and I hoped my father would be home before I left. Instead of dwelling on the finer points of what it meant to be going on a date with Edward, I focused on talking to Kyle.

I had to wait until he got home only a couple of hours before the beginning of my date, and I had to corner him in his room while he was getting ready — in a bathrobe with my hair in a towel no less.

"I have to talk to you," I announced, garnering the attention of his intense stare.

He was currently dressed in dark dressed pants, no socks and the black shirt he'd worn to our grandmother's funeral. He smirked when he saw me. "I sure hope you're not planning on leaving this house dressed like that," he teased.

I sighed heavily. "Please don't do that. I mean it. We have to talk."

His smirk faded.

I didn't wait, moving closer to him slowly. "This isn't going to be easy for either of us," I said, fidgeting steadily. "And I know the last thing you want is to chaperone me on a date with a boy you don't really like."

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You got that right."

"But I do like him," I stressed. "And he's not a bad guy. He's not out to steal my virtue, and I'm pretty sure if he was going to do any of the things you're probably wanting to accuse him of, my father wouldn't have allowed him to take me anywhere, much less step a foot inside this house."

The smirk he'd been wearing previously returned, and he crossed his arms over his chest. "And let me guess. You want me to put aside all the differences I've put between me and him for just one night so you can enjoy your little date and wake up tomorrow like a happy little sophomore with a boyfriend I don't like?"

I inhaled deeply. "Actually, yes."

He rolled his eyes again, and I couldn't control the remark that left my mouth.

"God, I can't believe we're even related anymore!"

His lips pressed together into a line, and I stepped closer.

"And black? Really? This is that much of a depressing request I've made that you have to wear the same clothes you wore to her funeral?"

The hurt look in his eyes made me stop, and I lowered my voice.

"You held my hand that day, Kyle," I reminded him. "I know my brother's still in there somewhere. If you don't like Edward now, I understand. You don't know him. But I do, and I know he cares about me. That means the two of you should have something in common, or you wouldn't have agreed to do this. Please, Kyle. I'm begging. I've never done this before, and I really don't want it to be something I live to regret because my brother decided to ruin it. Please don't ruin this for me."

He wanted to argue. I could see it in his pale blue eyes. But I was standing there in my bathrobe with my hair in a towel. Surely, he could see how important it was to me for him to behave.

"I won't ruin this for you," he said softly. "I promise."

I exhaled the breath I'd been holding in. "Thank you. I mean it. Thank you, Kyle."

"You really like this guy, don't you? It's not like that crush you had on Jackson Witherspoon, is it?"

"God, no," I exclaimed, smiling unconsciously. "I can't believe you even remember his name!"

He grinned. "Well, then I just might end up surprising you, little sister."

I rolled my own eyes at the nickname, turning to leave when he grabbed my hand.

"I mean all of that," he said. "I won't ruin this for you. And you _are_ my little sister. And I _will_ definitely end up surprising you. So don't get too comfy with my new attitude."

The wary look on my face made his grin fade, and he squeezed my hand. "I'm sorry."

I grasped onto his hand, smiling slightly. "It's okay. And yes, I really like Edward."

He let me go then, and I hurried to my room to get ready. It was after four, and my hair was still wet!

The dress I'd picked out slipped on perfectly, its warm wool texture a little rough against my skin but not uncomfortable. The stockings I'd borrowed from my mother disappeared as soon as I pulled them, and I completed my ensemble with a pair of heels from my mother's closet.

My mother was waiting in the bathroom to help me with my hair, and by then, I was glad it was mostly dry. She didn't have to ask why I wanted it up tonight. I'd already told her my reasons. The reason was obvious to me since I wanted to look different now that I was going on my first date.

The doorbell rang promptly at six o'clock. It was already well after dark but the night was just beginning. A blanket was waiting on my bed for me after I left the bedroom as my mother had gone down to answer the door.

A knock on my door broke me from my musings about whether Edward had come to the door alone or not, and while I expected it to be my mother, I was utterly surprised to see Kyle there. He'd changed out of the dark clothes and was now wearing blue jeans with a brilliant white button-down shirt and his letterman jacket from our last school. He looked like his old self.

"I'll take it from your stunned silence that you find my new attire more appropriate," he surmised.

"I do," I nodded. "I was wondering when you would show up. It's been seven months, you know."

"I know," he admitted. Then he held his arm out with an exasperated sigh. "Come on. Sooner we get this train wreck started . . ."

I took his arm, eyeing him warily.

"I'm kidding," he huffed. And then he smiled. "Don't look at me like that. Let's go."

He turned then and pulled me down the stairs to the foyer where a small army had assembled.

The first thing I saw was Fisher and Emmett laughing about something that was apparently very funny, and at a creak of the stairs under my feet, they both looked at me. Fisher's jaw dropped, and he stepped closer to the stairs as Kyle and I arrived at the bottom step. My second eldest brother extended his hand to me, and I laid my hand in his.

"You look beautiful," he said, causing me to blush gently.

"I concur," Edward agreed.

I looked at him as he stood next to my mother and father, and with a nod in their direction, he stepped closer to me with the most genuine smile on his face I'd ever seen. Though he was only wearing a pair of brown tweed pants and jacket with a light blue shirt, he looked so much more stunning than he had in his tuxedo. There was a little more disarray in his hair, and his eyes were a darker green than usual. I wasn't sure exactly how it was possible for him to be this way, but I suspected it had something to do with the fact that I'd never felt this way about anyone in my short life. He was so beautiful.

The glimmer in his eyes told me he could hear what I was thinking, and I blushed helplessly.

He smiled at Fisher and then Kyle before he took my hands in his. A glance in Emmett's direction made me think something was going on between them, but nothing was said. Edward looked at my parents.

"I'll have her back by nine o'clock," he assured them.

My mother waved her hand at him. "Don't be silly, honey. My goodness, just go have a good time."

Though I was stunned, I could do nothing to hide my appreciation.

"We should get going," Emmett said, moving to the door to lead the way. "I'll make sure they both don't waste this."

Edward laughed just once, glancing at me and pursing his lips.

There was little in the way of anymore ceremony as Emmett opened the front door to make his way out to the car. Edward followed him with me at his side, and Kyle slowly followed us. Emmett's car was even shinier than it was the last time I saw it, and he opened the back door as Edward arrived with me. Another silent moment passed between them, and Emmett grinned, bowing his head. Then Edward looked at me.

"After you," he gestured to the back seat.

"Uh, wait a second," Kyle protested. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

Edward and I both looked at him, and while I wanted to argue, Edward beat me to it. "It's all right," he said, allowing me to sit in the back seat. "I'll sit up front with Emmett if it makes you more comfortable."

The victorious grin on my older brother's face was enough to bring out the stubbornness in me.

"But that's ridiculous," I exclaimed. "Kyle, please. We'll be less than three feet away. Don't be unreasonable now."

He rolled his eyes, giving in with a light scoff. "Fine."

A covert smile spread across Edward's lips, and he slid into the back seat with me instantly. Kyle closed the door a little too loudly, moving to the front seat as Emmett squeezed behind the driver's seat. No other words were shared as the car was started, and with that, we were off.

I wanted my first date to be somewhere special — somewhere I'd never been so I could relish in the experience with my date. But we yielded to Emmett's desire to go to the drive in. The blanket kept me warm as I sat next to Edward, and he took my hand in his the moment Kyle and Emmett exited the car to order our food. I wasn't very hungry, only ordering something to drink for the time being. My brother claimed he was starving, and Emmett convinced him to sit under the pavilion so Edward and I could be alone a little while.

"Kyle seems to be easing up a bit," Edward said as we sat close together.

I laughed softly. "Well, after what I did, I'm kind of surprised." I thought about pleading with him in my robe with my hair in a towel, and Edward gasped dramatically.

"You really did that?" he whispered.

The little hairs on the back of my neck fluttered under his breath, standing up, and I shivered. Edward turned my hand over so my palm was facing him, and after a few seconds, he thread his fingers between mine. More chills assailed me, and I unconsciously laid my other hand over his.

"You know it doesn't matter where we are," he said softly. "As long as I'm with you."

My eyes found his, and he smiled, leaning closer to me. He'd done this a couple of times before, and now I knew what he wanted. I was surprised to realize I wanted it too, and even though we were only going on our first date, I didn't care.

The tip of his nose found mine, and I shivered again. He was so close I could smell him, and I remembered what he'd said about everything of him that drew people to him despite his desire to stay isolated. If memory served me properly, it was no more difficult for him to do it than the way those other vampires had attempted, and I unwillingly allowed an image of them to flicker through my mind a split second before he drew back with his jaws clenched.

He didn't have to say anything. I knew what I'd done.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

He turned away from me and released my hand, sitting forward with his own hands clasped together. "I should never have done this," he declared. "For every day you're near me, you're in danger."

I grabbed his arm and tugged. "You won't let anyone hurt me. I know you won't."

His eyes were harsh when he looked at me, their vibrant green hue indicative of his hunting schedule. "I'm not talking about anyone else," he hissed through clenched teeth. "I'm talking about me!"

I shook my head. "You're not making sense."

"I'm dangerous, Keira. It doesn't matter what I do or what I say. I'm a predator, and I shouldn't have done this."

He moved to get out of the car, but I stopped him, pulling him back to me.

"I trust you," I swore to him. "You've been protecting me this whole time. How could I not? Having something dangerous inside you doesn't make you evil. And no matter what you've done, it doesn't make you dangerous. It makes you human."

Edward lifted his eyes to me, his expression of self-loathing almost too much for me to bear. I lifted my hands to his face, trying everything I could to comfort him.

"I trust you," I said again, more softly this time. "And you need to trust me. We're here, and we're safe. We're together, and that's all that matters. You don't have to be afraid of this anymore."

"I could kill you so easily," he warned. "Without meaning to. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. Do you understand that?"

I eased the tips of my fingers over his skin, eliciting a sharp reaction from him as he took my wrists in his own hands. "I understand," I nodded. "But you have to understand that I'm just as invested in this as you are. Give me a little credit, Edward. I'm not completely blinded by your ability to make me totally helpless."

Thought his expression didn't change, the words he spoke were no less warning than his eyes had been. "How can you be so understanding and so careless at the same time?" he demanded.

"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe one day, I'll figure that out for myself. But I won't learn that if you stop me by backing away. You don't have to isolate yourself anymore. I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. Not now."

He scooted closer to me, laying his forehead against mine. "I don't know if I can do this when the possibility of losing you will always be hanging over me," he confessed. "But I believe you. And I trust you, Keira."

I moved forward slowly, easing my arms around his shoulders and wrapping my hand around the back of his head. He held me close, relaxing for the time being, and I decided then was as good a time as any to mention my questions about Christmas.

"It wouldn't have to be so bad," I whispered. "Us spending time together with our families. And now that Kyle has finally started to relax, he won't be the way he was when you met him. It could work if we were both careful, Edward. I know it."

Tension returned to his body a little after I said that, but when he leaned back to look at me, I didn't see fear like I'd believed I would. Instead, I saw worry and apprehension. I didn't have to ask why. And he didn't have to voice his concerns.

"Just trust me," I pleaded.

His smile returned slowly. "I do," he proclaimed. "I just don't want anything bad to happen."

Lifting my hand to his face again, I smiled back. "Then we'll just have to do our absolute best to make sure nothing bad happens."

He pursed his lips again, lowering his eyes and then bowing his head. "Then there's just one problem."

I sat up straight, suddenly worried. "What?"

He looked at me with a sparkle in his eye. "Now I have to find something to give you."

A laugh bubbled up gently, and with that, our plans were made. He scooted a little closer and draped his arm over the seat behind me, and I settled into his side. I couldn't see the movie playing, but at this point, it didn't matter anymore. Edward and I were together, and there was hope for our future despite the few obstacles that continued to plague us. Regardless of anything else, I knew we would be facing the next obstacle together.

I ended up getting a little hungry, and Emmett flat-out refused to let me or Edward pay for my food. Kyle thought that was strange, but he was currently in a "deep" conversation with a girl from school and didn't pay much attention to it after Emmett's initial offer. Relief overwhelmed me to not have to explain why Emmett was doing it, and it helped that Kyle didn't see Emmett order only one meal — instead of two.

Though the cheeseburger and fries were far outside what I normally ate, I found that I was quite hungry once I began eating. It wasn't easy to eat with Edward watching me the way he always did, but I focused on the sounds of the movie playing to distract me. Before I knew it, the food was gone, and I was left to sip on the soft drink Emmett had purchased for me.

"Well, now that you've hunted and fed," Edward joked as he sat next to me, "we should probably be getting you home."

I grinned around my straw. Then I looked at him. "Ready to be rid of me?"

At first, I thought he might take me seriously, but by the grin on his own face, I could see he knew I was joking with him. He kept his arm around my shoulders, nodding slightly and holding me closer. "If we're going to do this again, I want to make a good impression."

Only a moment later, the doors to the front seat opened, and Emmett and Kyle slid inside with two completely different attitudes.

"Time to go already?" Emmett teased.

"Please," Kyle scoffed. "It's about time we got out of this place. Couldn't be soon enough, if you ask me."

Emmett grinned at him. "I thought you liked talking to that girl."

Kyle shrugged. "Small potatoes."

Edward glanced at me, seeing the wary look on my face. "Let's just go," he pressed.

Neither Emmett nor Kyle offered anymore protest, settling in as the car was started, and as Emmett pulled out to leave, Kyle looked at me.

"So, did you enjoy yourself?" he inquired, drawing out the word 'enjoy' as he smiled a little too widely.

I smiled myself and lifted my chin prominently. "As a matter of fact, I did."

The too-wide smile on his face faded into a real one, but he didn't say anything, turning in his seat to face the windshield.

Emmett stayed in the car after pulling up to the curb of my house, and Kyle got out after shaking his hand and promising they would never do this again. It didn't do much in the way of dampening Emmett's mood, but he smiled at me knowingly before Edward scooted out of the back seat to help me out of the car.

Kyle waited by the front door until we were on the front steps and then the porch, and while I thought he might wait to walk me inside so Edward would have to say goodnight right then, my oldest brother only gave Edward a slight warning in his eyes and then turned to go inside, leaving the front door open. The moment we were alone and standing in the doorway of my house, Edward faced me and took my hands in his.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself tonight," he said softly, gently caressing my hands with his thumbs. "I must say, I quite enjoyed myself as well. I never thought doing something like this would feel so good. I have you to thank for that."

I stepped a little closer. "And we'll do it again?" I verified with a little grin which he returned.

"Of course we will," he promised. "And next time, we'll just have Emmett with us. He'll be a little more giving in space, and I can take you somewhere no one's been before. But first, we have to finish putting our project together. Once we have that completed and turned in early, there'll be nothing else in our way to just spend our Saturdays exploring."

The idea of just spending time with Edward sounded wonderful, and I found myself looking forward to it before I really thought of what it meant. It didn't matter anymore. I knew everything would work itself out in the end.

He leaned closer to me slowly, laying his lips over my cheek and lingering there for several seconds before he laid a light kiss in the corner of my lips and stepped back to the front door to open it. I couldn't hide my disappointment that he hadn't really kissed me, but he saw the look in my eyes and leaned his lips to my ear as we walked inside.

"There'll be plenty of time for that when we're not standing on your porch," he whispered.

There was no way to stop the light laugh that escaped my lips, and he laughed softly too, closing the front door as my mother came in from the dining room.

"Goodness, is it that time already?" she asked with a giggle.

Edward smiled. "Well, it is only our first date," he insisted. "And I want to do things right with Keira."

My mother didn't notice the implications in his words but couldn't stop smiling. "That's very gentlemanly of you," she marveled.

"I'll just be going," he said, taking and then squeezing my hand gently. "Goodnight."

I squeezed his hand as tightly as I could. "Goodnight."

He waved at my mother and turned to leave in one fluid move, and I watched him leave with a content sigh.

"Oh, darling, he is so wonderful," my mother gushed. "It's amazing he has such good manners."

"Yes, it is," I agreed. "And yes, he is very wonderful."

She wrapped her arm around my shoulders, and I reciprocated with my arm around her waist. "Honey, you're glowing," she teased. "Oh, you remind me so much of myself right after I met your father."

There wasn't much I could say to that, and as she directed me to the stairs and walked up to my room with me, I thought about Edward and how similar he was to my father — if nothing else than the fact that they were very close in age.

"We're going to Edward's for Christmas," I announced as she and I arrived at my room. "He and I thought it would be fun since they came here for Thanksgiving. Is that all right?"

She didn't have to hide her excitement. "That sounds terrific, sweetheart. I'm sure your father and brothers will have no problem with that, especially after we convince them they don't have a say in the matter."

I laughed, and she did as well, leaning forward to kiss my cheek.

"I'm really glad you had a good time," she beamed. "It means you'll have an even better time tomorrow."

"I hope so."

She rubbed my cheek and turned to leave my room.

I slept more peacefully that night than I had in a long time, thinking of my night with Edward and of all the nights that were in the future.

Now we only had to make it through Christmas.

Twice more, Edward and I went out on a "date." The only major difference was the fact that Kyle refused to come again. Once, Abigail and I convinced Fisher and Edward to go on a double date. It was amusing to watch my brother want to watch me with my date while he tried to keep his own in his sight for the night. The second time was the night after we turned in our science project three days early. Mr. Fillmore was absolutely flabbergasted as to what he was supposed to do, but he took the project with a measure of trepidation. It was obvious he was impressed, even from me, and I couldn't read his mind. Edward assured me we would both get more than adequate scores for our . . . fortitude.

To celebrate, he and Emmett picked me up at my house on Saturday afternoon to keep suspicions at a minimum since it wasn't exactly proper for Edward and I to be alone given our age — at least my age.

A large picnic basket occupied the back seat of the car as I squeezed in the middle of the front seat. It wasn't too cold, but winter was right around the corner. We'd already had a few bouts of freezing precipitation, but it wasn't anything that had caused the town to come to a halt. It was damp now, but two thick blankets set beneath the picnic basket. I was instantly curious.

Edward said nothing to appease me, grinning as Emmett pulled away from the curb to leave the neighborhood.

"I could tell everyone you kidnapped me," I cautioned meekly.

He looked at me with wide, brilliantly innocent green eyes. "I could tell everyone you came of your own free will," he countered. "And I have ways of making people see my side of things."

I gasped dramatically, glancing at Emmett. "Are we at least staying in the town's limits?" I pleaded softly, giving him my best pout.

He looked at Edward, and it was clear he was losing his resolve.

"Not a word," Edward ordered.

I looked at him, my mouth agape.

He shrugged. "It's a surprise," he swore.

I pouted again, folding my arms over my chest and settling into the seat. Edward laid his arm over the seat behind me, rubbing my arm through my coat. I tried to look upset, especially since he'd sworn Emmett to silence, but he leaned in and kissed my cheek. If that wasn't bad enough, then he whispered close to my ear.

"Emmett's going to do a sweep and then come back to the car," he revealed. "It's just going to be you and me. Esme packed you something I'm sure you'll have no interest in eating once you see what I have to show you."

Little tingles slid up my spine as his breath tickled my skin, and I couldn't remove the smile from my face. This didn't change anything, but it was a start.

Emmett sped away from the town the way he usually did, and I absently held onto Edward's hand while the sky outside not began to darken but also clear of the clouds that had blocked out the sun the last several days. The farther away from town we got, the clearer the sky became, and soon, I could see stars.

"Just wait," Edward said. "That's not all you'll see."

My curiosity peaked the moment we pulled down a dark road illuminated only by the headlights of the car, and my pulse inadvertently increased as the path narrowed to the point we could no longer drive to our destination.

Emmett parked and turned off the car. Edward opened the door to his side and pulled me with him as he slid out.

"Come on," he beckoned. "It's not far from here."

I couldn't argue, trusting him as he gathered up the blankets and picnic basket.

We set off without Emmett or a light to guide us. Even with Edward's impeccable sight, I was worried about tripping and falling without being able to see where I was going. At that thought, Edward stopped and proceeded to lift me in his arms as he also carried everything else. He never said anything, only smiling and continuing like he hadn't even stopped.

The trees seemed to go on forever, and I thought for the slightest moment that it would take too long to get back to the car. Then the foliage thinned and parted completely to reveal a small clearing and then a cliff that overlooked one of the rivers that flowed into Grays Harbor. Edward put me down gently, spreading out both blankets over the damp ground and then setting the picnic basket down.

"Are you worried?" he asked softly, stepping close to me and then pulling me into his arms.

I glanced around. "About falling?"

A little smirk crossed his lips. "Something like that."

The blanket was on a few steps away, and I moved as confidently as I could. "I trust you," I insisted.

He followed me without arguing — for once.

My wool stockings, dress and coat all kept me warm as I sat on the cold ground next to Edward, and after we'd both settled on the blanket, he opened the picnic basket. Esme had outdone herself, making a dozen little lemon cakes and a dozen cinnamon cakes covered in creme cheese icing with bottles of tea and creme. She'd packed cut apples and sliced strawberries. There were ever some little glasses to drink out of, and I was curious why there were two instead of one.

"She was hoping I would join you for at least one drink," Edward admitted. "I tried to dissuade her, but in true motherly fashion, she said I had to or else."

I laughed softly reaching into the basket to set the glasses on the blanket. They were heavy, clear and sparkled in the growing moonlight. Astonished, I lifted my eyes to Edward as he opened a bottle of tea and poured me a glass.

"Is this real crystal?" I asked.

He smiled. "She said only the best for you," he confirmed.

I bit my lip nervously, suddenly afraid I would drop my glass and break it. Edward lifted my hands and set the little cup in my palm, steadying my trembling limb.

"It's all right," he assured me. "She has more. And if anything else, Carlisle will always replace anything that's lost. There inevitably always is whenever we move. Once, Rosalie broke an heirloom mirror while throwing it at my head. I was teasing her about her interactions with Emmett, and I think I angered her."

His story caused my pulse to increase, but he smiled again, and I knew he was trying to make me feel better.

"Is it working?"

I grasped onto my glass, taking a sip of the sweet tea and then clutching it to my chest. "A little."

Though I wasn't hungry, I decided to eat one of the lemon cake slices with my tea, turning my gaze to the night sky as it continued to clear. Already I could see twice as many stars in the sky as I'd been able in the car.

"It's beautiful out here," I said softly.

I looked at Edward, discovering his eyes on me. Then he looked at the sky. "I agree."

"What do you see?" I asked, scooting closer to him.

His dark eyes scanned the sky, and after half a minute, he pointed with his left hand. "Aries," he indicated. "The Ram. In Greek Mythology, it comes from a story about a King who had two children. Their step-mother beat them, and this made the messenger god Hermes angry. He sent the Ram to carry them away to safety. The girl, Helle, was lost on the way down a strip of water between Europe and Asia. They named it after her. The boy, Phrixus, made it safely to the Black Sea. He sacrificed the Ram and gave its fleece to a dragon for safe-keeping. It's the same fleece Jason and the Argonauts recovered and returned to the King's city."

The laugh that escaped my chest couldn't be stopped, and I covered my mouth as he looked at me.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "But you remember all of that by looking at a constellation?"

He grinned. "I remember everything," he proclaimed. "And it isn't just from the constellation. Since I began this life with Carlisle, I've probably read more books and listened to more lectures at colleges than I would care to admit." He lifted his finger to his temple. "It's all in here now."

Again, I bit my lip. "What do you see when you look up there?"

He returned his eyes to the sky. "The clouds," he revealed, a little smile pricking at the left corner of his mouth. Then after a short pause, he began again. "The stars — more stars than any human could possibly observe. To the naked human eye, they're just white dots in the sky. But I see red, blue, yellow, purple, orange. All varying degrees of stars being born, growing and dying." His smile fell and his head fell forward. "They all die. Here, we only see the ones closest, but out there, I know they all die."

There was a second meaning in his words, and I tried to comfort him, wrapping my arm around his back and lifting my hand to his chest. Of course he was cold, but I imagined him warm and alive.

"The power of visualization," he commented with a light laugh.

I leaned closer to him without thinking of what would happen afterward, kissing his cheek and then whispering softly. "As long as I'm here, I'm alive. And as long as you're here, you're warm. That's all that matters now. Everything else can wait. No more negative, okay? Only positive."

He turned his head to look at me, and he was suddenly closer than he had been in two weeks. This time, there was no Emmett to bother us. There was no Kyle to tease us. We weren't standing on my front porch.

A new smile replaced the sadness in his eyes, and he laid his hand over mine as it laid on his chest. "No, we're not," he agreed. "But — "

I shook my head. "No more negative. Please. There's nowhere else I would rather be than right here with you."

The smile on his face evolved into another light laugh, and he leaned a little closer, caressing the tip of my nose with his. A chill flickered through my body, but it wasn't from the cold. He inhaled deeper than he ever had, gently wrapping his hand around my arm and then touching my face with his other hand. My brain was doing cart wheels. He was going to kiss me. I knew it.

"Stop thinking," he whispered, his upper lip brushing against mine. "No more thinking aloud either."

I gasped softly, and he closed the last few centimeters separating us to lay his lips on mine. Electricity flitted through me, charging the air around us. His lips were so smooth and perfect. I wondered if they always had been. His hard chest fluctuated with movement as he moved his lips against mine. I tried to mimic him. Never in my short life had I ever kissed or even been kissed by a boy. While I'd always thought of what it would feel like, this barely compared to that.

My heart soared and fluttered the longer his lips were on mine. I felt impervious to the cold, and the light breeze on the air only worked to tickle the hairs on the back of my neck. I grasped onto his shirt, still imagining him warm with his heart beating beneath my hand. I knew it was only my imagination, but for a split second, it was almost like I really could feel something. Nothing was ever going to feel this amazing. I knew it as well as I knew anything I'd ever been taught or shown by anyone else.

Hours could've passed, and I wouldn't have cared as I sat there having my first kiss — with Edward. He reluctantly let go, still caressing my skin and whispering again.

"Clearly, it's impossible to stop you from thinking," he teased, kissing the corner of my mouth. "And you'll want to pay attention to sky soon."

I held him tighter. "Why?"

Turning his gaze from mine and toward the sky, he said nothing to explain. I followed him and lifted my eyes to the sky.

Just as I did, a tiny streak of light blazed across the sky. I gasped again, and soon, another followed. "Oh my gosh," I exclaimed. "Edward, it's a meteor shower!"

He laughed softly. "I know."

I looked at him curiously, realizing too late that he must have known this was going to happen tonight.

"Well, of course, I knew," he chuckled. "It happens every year around this time."

I lifted my eyes to the dark sky, seeing the white dots and then the tiny streaks as they became more frequent. "What is this one called?"

My reading from science class kept creeping in as I watched, remembering that several meteor showers came and went every year. There were decidedly too many to keep up with, so figuring out which this one was proved to be a little difficult.

Edward leaned closer, his lips to my ear. "These are called Geminids," he whispered. "Because they appear near and originate from the constellation Gemini."

I shook gently with a set of chills, and instead of moving away like I was afraid he would, Edward stayed close, kissing my cheek. I leaned into him, wanting nothing more than to sit here all night until it was over.

No response came to my thought, and after another minute, we both fell silent, watching the sight before us. It was so quiet and peaceful. Only the sounds of the river below us permeated the air, and though several animals populated the black woods around us, we were left alone nearly the entire time we sat there.

I never touched the food again the rest of the time we were there together.

For probably a couple of hours, we sat and watched the tiny streaks of light glide across the sky. Every little while I would think of my grandmother and how much she would've loved this. December was her favorite month of the year because it symbolized the end of the year and the beginning of another year. With my birthday being at the end of the month, she'd always given me more than one gift.

One was usually something typical of her — a homemade, heirloom looking piece of nothing that she claimed had taken her hours to make. The other gift was almost always her real gift. The last Christmas I'd spent with her, she'd given me my locket, but it didn't hold a picture. Instead, she'd filled it with lavender and rose — two of her favorite scents. I almost never took it off.

Brush breaking under heavy footfalls caught my attention as I sat next to Edward, and with no light to see who it was, I naturally became worried. There was a new moon out, so no light illuminated whoever was approaching us. Then a booming, exuberant voice pierced the night air.

"It's gettin' late, you two," Emmett informed us.

He came close enough to kneel on my other side.

Edward glanced around. The meteor shower was still going, but I could see on his face that he knew Emmett was right. He looked at me.

"Are you ready?"

I didn't hesitate, allowing him to take my hand. "I'm ready."

Emmett didn't wait, packing up the picnic basket and folding the blankets.

I turned to look up at the sky again, remembering what Edward had said about the stars and feeling a little anxiety over the path I felt being laid in front of me — and him. But then I turned to him and stepped closer, grasping his hand in mine and holding onto his arm as we began walking back to the car. It would all work itself out. I had to believe that. I wanted to believe it so much. If I did that, it would be easier.

The walk to the car was blurry, and I remembered Edward lifting me in his arms again as I became tired. He carried me to the car and sat in the back seat with me. I fell asleep before Emmett turned the car on to get back to the road that would carry all of us to town.

Next thing I knew was Edward touching my face and whispering for me to wake up.

"You're home."

Brilliant golden lights illuminated my porch, and I stretched before smiling at him and nodding that I was ready. He opened the door at his side and slid out, turning to help me and walking me up to the porch.

Would he kiss me again now that we were standing on my porch again?

He touched my chin and lifted my face. Even in the low light, his eyes glimmered. "Do you want me to kiss you again?"

I glanced around, spotting Emmett and the car and then my front door. I looked at Edward and nodded.

He grinned, caressing my cheek and leaning closer. I closed my eyes as his presence encompassed me, feeling his lips on my forehead and his arms around my waist. A deep breath passed my lips as I lifted my hands to hold onto him. After a moment, he leaned back to look at me. "Probably not the best idea here on your porch," he smiled more happily than I'd seen. "But again," he promised.

I bit my lip, smiling after a few seconds and nodding.

He stepped back then and pulled me to the front door. "In a few days, school will be over for two weeks, and before you realize it, we'll be through with Christmas. I'm actually starting to look forward to this, Keira."

I smiled, keeping my head down as we entered the foyer. Fisher was coming down the stairs then, ready for bed, and he smiled when he saw us.

"Is it that time already?" he teased, stepping in front of Edward and shaking his hand.

To that, I said nothing, and Edward laughed softly.

"I should get going," he insisted. Then he looked at me. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded. "Tomorrow."

He smiled at Fisher briefly, turning to leave as quietly as he'd arrived earlier.

"You're blushing, little sister," my brother informed me.

I lifted my eyes to his, wondering if he could see it on my face. Did I look different? Was it possible to have changed in just a few short hours?

Ever observant, Fisher stepped a little closer to me, staring and making me uncomfortable as he surveyed every centimeter of my face.

"Oh, my God," he whispered, still smiling. "He kissed you."

I moved as quickly as I could, covering his mouth. "Don't say it so loud," I pleaded.

He laughed and took my hand in his. "But it's great," he marveled. "You like him, don't you?"

I nodded.

"And you liked it when he kissed you, didn't you?"

I bit my lip and nodded a second time.

Slowly, Fisher stepped to my side and wrapped his arm around me. "Then I think everything's going to be okay," he reasoned.

I didn't argue with him, allowing him to walk me up the stairs silently.

Just as school was ending for two weeks, the weather began to deteriorate. For three days, it rained, and after the rain, it sleet for nearly a day, covering the ground in a clear layer of frozen mess. My father put chains on his car to get to work despite the police station being less than ten blocks away. We kept the fire place going all day, and my mother made stew to last us for several days along with soup and bread. She hadn't cooked like this is months, not since before my grandmother had died.

The weather cleared up only long enough for us to venture out of town to Seattle for a day of shopping. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but my father insisted on going with us so we would be okay getting home. After remembering what happened the last time my mother and I left town, I asked if Edward could come with us. It was a strange request, but I promised he would be a perfect gentleman. My mother was absolutely beside herself when it seemed like my father would say no, but in the end he agreed.

Our Christmas shopping was more hurried this year than it had been since I was ten, but I couldn't seem to remember why it had been that way then. We weren't going anywhere special since all my father's relatives lived back East, and the idea of staying in town for the remainder of the holidays felt better than traveling to another coastline for less than a week. I helped my mother pick out gifts for Fisher and Kyle, and she shooed me away so she could buy something for me. We had lunch in Seattle, and by four-thirty that afternoon, my father was ready to go home. I couldn't blame him after being in the city nearly eight hours.

It was Christmas Eve before I realized it, and we were getting ready to go to Edward's house the next day. The house was more elaborately decorated than I'd ever seen of our old house. My mother hung garland and tinsel to her heart's content, and I volunteered Fisher to help me with the tree. There were already presents resting beneath it as he and I strung the tinsel around it and hung ornaments we'd been collecting all our lives on its branches. Before meeting Edward and his family, I hadn't believed this Christmas would be any good without my grandmother, but like Edward, I was actually looking forward to it.

"You're glowing," Fisher said as he held a box of ornaments on the other side of the tree from me.

I smiled despite knowing he was probably watching me. "First, I'm blushing, and now I'm glowing," I laughed. "What am I? A light bulb?"

He laughed too. "Well, you definitely look all lit up inside."

I inhaled deeply, feeling it in my toes and sighing contentedly. "I feel all lit up inside."

Slowly, he moved around to my side with his box.

"I've never see you this way," he informed me. "I kind of like it."

I laughed a little louder.

"Yeah, well, if you ask me, she looks like one of those ridiculous Disney characters they have on those posters at the drive-in," Kyle offered, stepping into the room dressed in similar clothes as Fisher as they both wore pajamas.

His teasing tone did nothing to wipe the smile from my face.

"Well, then, at least I'm a happy ridiculous Disney character."

Kyle rolled his eyes and moved further into the room to look at the tree. "I thought Dad was gonna get some of those electric lights for the tree," he said with scrutinizing eyes.

"They were too expensive," Fisher replied. "And plus, I think he tried to finagle with the store about one of the gifts he bought for Mom. I think our father is beginning to lose his love for the appeal of Christmas," he commented with a slight smile.

Kyle folded his arms over his chest. "Yeah, well, I know how he feels. Too much trouble if you ask me."

I lifted my hand to Kyle's arm, tugging on it as I spoke. "Just because you don't have a girlfriend doesn't mean there's something wrong with Christmas. It's not just about presents, even if those help. It's supposed to be about bringing people together and making the most with what you have. Christmas is about family and friends, and maybe even neighbors. Please at least try to enjoy yourself tomorrow when we go to Edward's. You won't regret it. I promise."

He pursed his lips and eyed me speculatively. "I'm gonna hold you to that."

I smiled again and nodded. "Good. So, who wants to put on the star?"

We stood there silently for a minute or two, and Kyle scoffed softly, kneeling to where we'd laid the boxes with our decorations inside. He didn't ask or even verify that it was okay. He took the homemade silver star our grandmother had given our father from its metal box and stood up to face the tree.

"Do I get a drumroll?" he joked. "Or should I just — "

Fisher cleared his throat expectantly.

Slowly, Kyle stood up straight and lifted the star to the very top of the tree, putting it in its place with very little ceremony. It wasn't one of those fancy looking ones I'd seen in Seattle, but it was the one we'd almost always had. Going just one Christmas without it felt wrong.

"Am I perfect?" Kyle smirked. "Or am I perfect?"

Neither Fisher nor I said anything, but I took Kyle's arm again, watching the tree shimmer off the firelight as I stood there with my two brothers.

"Kids, it's bedtime," my mother called, coming into the room and spotting the tree. "Oh! It looks perfect!"

Kyle smiled again, and she moved closer to stand next to Fisher.

"You all did such a good job," she praised.

"Thanks," Kyle said, obviously taking all the credit for my and Fisher's hard work.

"Let's all get to bed," she pressed. "We've got a long day tomorrow."

We didn't argue, turning with her to leave the living room.

I let go of Kyle's arm at the top of the stairs, and Fisher smiled at me before turning to go to his room. I stepped into my room after kissing my mother's cheek, facing my bed but certain I wouldn't get a wink of sleep.

Try existing somewhere between being a child and almost a teenager, and you'd probably know what it felt like to wake up Christmas morning without the expectation of having your innocence stolen because your big brother decided to tell you Santa Claus wasn't real. When I was thirteen, Kyle made me stay up late so we could spy on our parents while they put our presents under the tree. It was supposed to be a joke, and when my mother and father actually carried handfuls of presents down to the living room, I remembered feeling more disappointed than I had in a long time.

It wasn't because Santa Claus wasn't real, but because for all my life up to that point, I'd believed in things like magic and faith. For a while afterward, I'd lost my desire to even participate, and I'd blamed Kyle the whole time. My grandmother had been the one to show me that even if Santa wasn't real, the spirit he created was very real. It wasn't like Merlin in King Arthur's Court or the Wizard of Oz, but magic was real. It was the kind you had to believe in to see, not the other way around.

So when I woke up Christmas morning, the only thing I was thinking was how I wanted to spend time with my family and with Edward and his family. I wanted to see the look on my mother's face when she saw the gift my father had picked out for her — especially after he tried to negotiate the price with the shopkeeper. If Kyle smiled once today, I knew it would be a good day.

The house was silent, and the brilliant white glow from my curtains drew my attention as I rose from bed and moved to the window to see the outside world draped in a stunning blanket of shimmering crystal and fluffy snow flakes. Much to my amazement and concern, it had snowed and iced the night before while we'd all be sleeping.

Would this prevent us from going to Edward's this afternoon?

The sun was actually shining through breaks in the clouds, and I tried to remain hopeful as I left my room to hurry downstairs. The smell of coffee already being brewed tickled my nose, and cinnamon and chocolate wafted through the air as I reached the bottom of the stairs. It was warm and welcoming as I turned the corner to see my father lighting a new fire in the fireplace, and as I entered the room, he glanced back to see me there.

He smiled, rising to meet me and wrapping his arm around me. "Merry Christmas, baby," he whispered.

I held him tighter than I had in a long time. "Merry Christmas, Daddy."

"Looks like I made a good decision putting those chains on my car," he chuckled.

With a laugh, I realized he meant we would still go to Edward's for dinner, and I squeezed him tighter.

"I cannot wait until we can start buying new appliances for the kitchen," my mother exclaimed with a light laugh as she entered the front parlor with a tray of coffee and hot chocolate. "Oh, good morning, darling," she gasped.

I waited for her to put the tray down, stepping in front of her to put my arms around her. "Merry Christmas, Mom."

She held me much like my father had. "Merry Christmas, sweetheart." She leaned back to look at me. "Get some hot chocolate before your brothers come down."

Happily, I stole a large mug from her tray and sat over the lounge chair in front of the fireplace.

Half of my mug was empty by the time Fisher and Kyle came strolling into the parlor still in their own pajamas. It was the only time of year neither of them bothered to change before coming down, and the moment they saw me in my robe, any comment they might have made about how silly it was that we still did this evaporated.

Fisher sat with me on the lounge, taking his own cup from the tray, and Kyle grudgingly sat in the floor next to the tree. My father was already reading the paper with his coffee, and my mother made a point of asking him to put it away.

"It's our first Christmas here, dear," she reminded him. "I'd like to do it properly. Then you can go back to keeping up with the local news."

After a sigh, he folded the paper and put his coffee down, leaning closer as she began sifting through the gifts setting under the tree. Three large boxes were given to me, Fisher and Kyle, and then smaller boxes were distributed to each of us. The heaviest box was hers by far, and my father joined us in our festivities to give it to her.

Inside my large box which was wrapped in beautiful white silvery paper, I found a brand-new wool coat. It was royal blue with a tall collar and pearl white buttons laid in sterling silver. Included in the box was a new pair of white cable-knit cotton gloves. The coat was long like my light grey coat, but the pockets were deeper, and the wool felt softer and newer. Even though I hadn't known I needed a new coat, I couldn't hide my smile as I looked at my mother from the lounge chair.

"Do you like it?" she asked with a light laugh.

I stood up from the lounge chair and moved to her side, hugging her tightly. "I love it," I exclaimed. "It's perfect."

"Well, that seems to be our theme this year. Oh, honey, I'm really glad you like it."

Kyle and Fisher also got new coats that were dark green and chocolate brown. Despite it being a unusual gift from her, I could see they were both appreciative.

"Open up the smaller boxes," my mother pleaded with us.

The paper around my box disappeared instantly, and inside the box was a navy blue jewelry box. There was no way to hold in the gasp that escaped my lips when I opened the box to look inside. The little silver pin was no bigger than the inside of my palm, and the swallow bird inside had its wings closed with his head down. Even in the firelight, it glimmered, and I was instantly in love with it. I didn't wait for anyone else, taking it from the box and pinning it to my new coat. The silver pin went with the silver buttons, and I knew I would be wearing this a lot in the coming months.

"I'm guessing you like it," my mother said from my side.

I smiled and looked at her. "I love it."

She squeezed me again. "Good."

I gestured to her present as it lay at her feet unopened. "Open yours before Kyle does it for you," I insisted.

She sighed softly and picked up the box. "Well, it is very heavy," she noted. "Surely the four of you haven't gone and done something unnecessary."

We all smiled as she ripped the paper off to reveal a brown box. The brown box opened to allow her to see what was inside, and the expression on her face was priceless. Though my mother was usually the happier of my parents, I'd never seen her this astonished and . . . overjoyed.

"Oh! Oh, my gosh. Oh, Walter," she cried, moving to his side with the box and kissing his cheek. "Oh, honey, you shouldn't have."

He blushed and smiled. "I know," he agreed. "But if our children are going to keep having milestones and dances, then I figured we needed to have a way of commemorating it properly. And I'm actually very pleased with myself, since I was able to bargain with the man at the store to get you enough of that film it needs to last us a while before you need any more. I even talked to Mr. Wilson at the drug store about getting anything you want developed whenever you want."

"Okay, so do we get to see it or what?" Kyle asked.

My mother was almost too giddy to oblige, but she laughed again and reached into the brown box to extract what was inside. The packaging wasn't misleading in any way, but because none of us had never seen a camera box before, it looked completely foreign.

Of course, I'd been with my father when he bought it, and I'd even helped him find it. It was expensive and a little complicated, but I could already see my mother using it the next time I had a dance or even when Kyle graduated this coming June.

"This mean we're gonna have to pose for pictures whenever something important happens, doesn't it?" Fisher asked.

She giggled. "It most certainly does."

After we opened our presents and finished the hot chocolate and coffee, it was almost time for her to start making lunch. I volunteered to help her after getting dressed, and Fisher and Kyle went outside to check the roads.

We all ate soup around the dining room table. My mother wanted to take pictures of us all on the front porch, and it was only after dressing in our new coats that we all agreed. It was freezing outside, but we stood on the porch for fifteen minutes while she worked out how to use the camera and finally began taking pictures of us. It was a little unnerving, and my fingers began to go numb despite being inside my gloves as I clung to Fisher, but I loved seeing the smile on her face as she clicked away.

All my father's talk about her not using all the film he'd bought her, and she used an entire roll of film in ten minutes. I began to think it might have been better for us to not have bought her the camera in the first place.

Before we knew it, the time to go to Edward's house came, and I changed into a navy blue dress with white trim and flowers across the neckline. My mother helped me braid my hair, and we all gathered at the front door in our new coats to leave at five o'clock.

The air was crisp and smelled faintly of pine and spruce as I walked to the car behind Fisher, and he and I climbed into the backseat with Kyle while our parents slid into the front together. It had been a while since we'd been anywhere as a family, and I liked that we were all going to Edward's house as our first outing since moving here. I hoped my family enjoyed themselves as much as I knew I would. Carlisle and Esme's home was so warm and welcoming. I wanted my brothers and parents to feel that the same way I always did.

Everything between our house and Edward's was coated in a thin layer of ice, and though the roads had been plowed and cleared, it was still all shimmering in the low light of the afternoon. I was oddly wishing I could use my mother's camera to memorize the scenery, but it was tucked safely inside her purse in the front seat. If it wasn't too much, I would ask to borrow it once we were at Edward's house.

Because of the treacherous roads and even with fresh chains on the new tires of the car, my father still took it slow over the road out of town to our destination. The sun set just as we pulled down the drive toward Edward's house, and even from this far away, I could see every light in the house lit up. Two cars were parked off to the side of the house, and my father pulled up beside Emmett's car less than a second before the front door opened.

Esme emerged from within the house in a long-sleeved dress and an apron covering her. With the lights from the porch shining brightly, it was easy to see the smile on her face as she waited for us at the edge of the porch. I was still clung to Fisher as we made our way to the porch with Kyle and our parents close behind us.

"Oh, it's so wonderful you're here," she cheered gleefully. "Please come in, all of you."

I noticed she wasn't wearing a coat, and she wasn't even trying to pretend she was cold. She looked so happy. I didn't have the heart to plead with her just this once.

She guided us inside, and we were instantly enveloped in warmth from the fireplace in the living room. Almost immediately, I heard music coming from the living room, but it was coming from Edward's record player. At first, I was a little disappointed that he wasn't playing on the piano since he'd once said he would, but then I heard Christmas music coming from somewhere inside the room. I decided it was better than no music at all.

Rosalie was standing beside the tree, adjusting several ornaments, and I was stunned at what she was wearing. On any other girl it would've just been a red dress, but on Rosalie, it looked absolutely astonishing. Her long blond hair was pulled up into an elegant bun with braids woven through it, and she was wearing the largest diamond stud earrings I'd ever seen in my life. The neckline of her dress scooped in the front and the back and was trimmed with brilliant rhinestones — or were those diamonds as well? She wore a simple pearl necklace, but knowing her, it was probably made of real pearls.

I'd never seen her look so beautiful.

Apparently, neither had either of my brothers. The moment Fisher spotted her in the simple red dress covered in tiny sparkling diamonds, his jaw dropped. Absently, I remembered to Abigail and her parents had traveled further inland to visit her grandparents in Boise, and Fisher hadn't seen her in several days.

I smiled and touched his chin, closing his mouth. "Keep your hands to yourself," I giggled. "She's taken."

He clamped his jaws shut, pursing his lips and clearing his throat. "Right," he said, smiling and looking at me. "Sorry."

Rosalie chose that moment to turn around, seeing us there after I was sure she'd heard the whole thing, and thankfully, she didn't say anything one way or another.

I could faintly smell ham and green beans cooking, along with rolls and potatoes, and I looked around for Edward just as two eager sets of feet came clammering down the stairs. Emmett and Carlisle were both dressed in comfortable clothes, though for them, I guessed most clothes were comfortable. The black pants and dark green and blue sweaters they wore bore a resemblance to many of Edward's clothes, and the moment his name crossed my mind, I saw him following closely behind Carlisle.

"It's so wonderful you could make it," Carlisle said to my father as they shook hands. "With the roads, we were beginning to worry."

Carlisle glanced at me before he took my mother's hand to greet her, and though she probably noticed how cold his hands were, she didn't mention it, changing the subject instead.

"My goodness, your home is just stunning," she complimented.

He held her hand a little longer. "Well, Esme really has outdone herself. I'm sure she'll love to show you around after we've had a chance to get settled."

Edward stepped off the last step then, and I couldn't see anyone else in the room. He moved closer to me, smiling and glancing at everyone else before he spoke.

"Hello."

I laughed softly. "Hello."

Slowly, we all moved into the living room, and while Emmett took our coats, Esme carried a tray of hot chocolate and warm cider from the kitchen for us to drink. My mother was amazed at how wonderful the cider tasted, and in no time, they were talking about recipes and the decorations strewn through the house with absolute and utter precision.

"I made sure to put new chains on my tires," my father was saying to Carlisle as they both sipped on cider. "Keira was so excited to come. I could hardly refuse when I knew it would make her happy."

I watched my family interact with Edward's, amazed that it looked like everything would be okay.

Edward was freer in his movements around me, standing near me as we both occupied the space closest to the tree and somehow bathing me in the most loving gaze I'd ever found myself within. It didn't make me uncomfortable in the slightest, not even when Fisher and Kyle both spotted us.

"You're very beautiful tonight," he whispered to me.

I smiled graciously, lifting my eyes to his and seeing their brilliant green tenor that nearly matched the tree we were standing beside. "So are you," I replied.

A light laugh bubbled up from within his chest, and I laughed as well. I couldn't believe how happy I was.

Probably half an hour after we arrived, Esme gathered us all around the dining room table where she'd placed everything she had been cooking for our meal. Before we sat, Carlisle spoke to us all.

"Every year around this time, I'm reminded how blessed I am to have people around me whom I love dearly," he said, looking at Esme and then Edward, Rosalie and Emmett. His gaze fell on me, and he smiled. "And I'm also very grateful for new friends to share this holiday with since it happens so infrequently. So I want to thank Keira for suggesting we gather here tonight, and I hope this is the beginning of a new tradition for us all."

I blushed more deeply than I had in a while, and upon lifting my eyes to my mother's, I was overwhelmed to discover tears in her eyes. My father looked more proud than I'd seen him in months, and even Kyle looked like he wanted to burst into applause. While standing next to me, Fisher leaned into me and chuckled lightly. Thankfully, no one applauded, for which I was very happy.

"Please sit down and enjoy the food," he added, gesturing for us to sit. "I'm sure Esme has completely outdone herself this time."

The food was delicious, and I must have asked for seconds and then thirds of the ham and potatoes. I couldn't be sure what Esme had done, but I was positive she'd poured all of her happiness and pride into every dish on the table in front of us. It was difficult not to watch Edward or Emmett shuffle the food around on their plates to give the illusion that they were either eating or simply not hungry. Given Emmett's size, I didn't know if either of my brothers or my parents wouldn't notice.

If they did, they never said anything to me.

Rosalie excused herself less than half an hour after we sat down, saying she wasn't really hungry and that it was more important for her to continue decorating the tree. I thought it might look strange, but after she was gone, my parents simply continued their respective conversations with Carlisle and Esme while Emmett and Kyle engaged in talking about sports. I didn't pay attention to that.

"I didn't think you would be nervous," Edward said to me as we sat beside each other.

I sighed softly. "I know. I just want everything to be okay. And I want to keep doing this. Is that too much?"

He took my hand in his and squeezed gently. "Of course not. And I want to keep doing this as well. First, we should make it through this."

I smiled and bowed my head. "Okay."

My last helping of the lemon creme cake Esme presented at the end of dinner had me stuffed and under the belief that I wouldn't need to eat again for several days. When the last bite was gone, I swore never to touch anymore food until all the children unable to eat tonight had gotten their fill.

It was at this point that Edward suggested we all move back into the living room to open gifts. At first, I was confused, especially since we hadn't talked about doing anything like it in all the weeks that had passed after Thanksgiving, but I was curious. Kyle and Emmett led the way, and Fisher whispered to me just as we passed the threshold of the living room doors.

"Guess where you're standing."

I looked at him, and then absently I lifted my eyes, noticing a particular decoration hanging over the eave of the arch above me.

My mother and father walked passed me and Edward as we were left inexplicably standing there alone. I could feel my heart thundering inside my chest, and as I looked at Edward, he glanced at everyone else as they watched.

"What's everyone staring at?" Kyle griped. "They're standing under mistletoe. So what?"

My eloquent brother.

Edward didn't acknowledge anyone's gaze, holding mine as he leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek. Somewhere in his eyes, I saw the promise of a kiss later, but for now, I was so embarrassed. He held me tighter without saying anything, stepping through the doorway and then pulling me to the couch to sit down.

It turned out that even though neither I nor anyone in my family had thought to purchase gifts for any member of Edward's family, there were apparently gifts under their tree for the five of us. I was so stunned that I didn't notice any of the other gifts when they were distributed. I only saw mine as Edward gave it to me wrapped in the most beautiful blue paper.

But what I was most amazed by was the delicate bracelet inside the box I opened under his watchful gaze. It looked like silver, but I somehow knew it wasn't. The tiny diamonds were surrounded by sapphires, and there were easily six gemstones lining the strand of jewelry.

"Do you like it?" Edward whispered.

I laughed softly. "You have to ask?"

Gently, he lifted the bracelet from its box and unclasped it. I quickly lifted my wrist, and he wrapped it around for me.

"It was my mother's," he revealed so that only I heard. "I inherited much of her jewelry along with several other things I've been able to claim over the years as one of her descendants. I think of her when I look at you, and I believe she would've loved to know you. Nearly as much as I do."

I laid my hand in his, turning to face him. Suddenly, everyone else in the room was gone, and it was just us sitting there. "I don't have anything to give you."

He gently squeezed my hand. "You're giving it to me now by simply being here. I can't remember the last time any of us could ever do this."

Lowering my eyes to my bracelet, I spoke with more resolve than I had only moments earlier in the dining room. "Well, at least I know now so I can find you something next year."

He didn't dispute my claim, and for that, I was grateful.

It was late when my father decided it was time for us to go home, and though I believed we all could've spent much more time there, my brothers and I agreed it was about that time. By then, Emmett and Kyle were in a deep discussion about their favorite sports' team, and Fisher and Rosalie were talking about something I couldn't hear from where I was as I still sat on the couch with Edward.

Reluctantly, we all gathered our new gifts and our coats, bidding our new friends a more fond farewell than any I think we'd ever given any other family we'd known. With us all being out of school, I knew I would be seeing Edward and Emmett soon, so I didn't have any problem pulling my new coat on to follow Fisher and Kyle back to the car. The promised kiss would come when it was just me and Edward, and I was looking forward to it more than I thought possible.

* * *

_**There were a few cultural references here, if you were paying attention. The most notable one should've been the "electric" lights for the tree. While they were already in use at the time, Christmas lights were in their most primitive form in the mid-forties and only really, really wealthy families owned them. It wasn't until the fifties that most other families could purchase them.**_

_**The other one should be the camera, which again wasn't in mass production until the late forties. And most of those were very expensive as well - well, for 1945, anyway.**_

_**And for a little heads up, the rest of the story will take place in the last few days of December. Does this mean the story will be done by then? Probably not, but so you have a time reference.**_

_**That's all for now.**_

_**Thanks for reading! And a review is always welcome.  
**_


	19. Accident

_**Okay, so this one is A LOT shorter than the last one, but it's only been a couple of weeks. And I'll go ahead and admit that part of this chapter was already written out, as well as the next chapter which I might or might not have up before the end of the year. Keep your fingers crossed.**_

_**Also, I hope the fact that this chapter is so short is made up for with the ending here and the next several chapters to come. And yes, you read that correctly.**_

_**See you at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**Accident**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

Two days passed after Christmas like it was nothing, and I woke up two days before my birthday feeling a new beginning of something on the horizon — just like my grandmother was always telling me. I'd been thinking about her a lot in the last several days, and after spending time with Edward over the holidays, I kept thinking.

Would she understand how I was feeling about him?

I wanted to talk to her about him and find out if what I was feeling was normal. I was almost sixteen, and it was okay for me to like boys who were my age. Wasn't it?

Okay, Edward at least looked like he was my age, and that was good enough for me.

Two days after Christmas, we were all still cleaning up the house from all the decorating my mother had done. My father agreed with my mother to keep the tree and all her decorations up until after the first of the year, but he wanted everything to go back to normal as soon as possible, especially since he had to go back to work the day after Christmas.

I was content helping my mother with her chores and Kyle and Fisher worked on getting all the decorations' boxes from the attic even if they wouldn't be needed for several more days. There was plenty to do other than that, but I kept wanting to spend time with Edward. It was almost like I _had_ to be with him, but I also needed to be with my family. The funny thing about it all was that my mother noticed all day Wednesday and then Thursday morning how distracted I was, and she kept sending me to another part of the house to do something other than help her. I didn't exactly know what she planned to accomplish, but it was still very amusing.

The weather had cleared up considerably, and the temperature had increased enough for almost all the ice to melt away. The sun even tried to come out a little.

"You really like Edward, don't you?" my mother asked as we cleaned up from breakfast Thursday morning.

I smiled as I dried the dishes. "Am I that obvious?"

She laughed. "Yes, honey, you are. And you look so beautiful."

I blushed so deep I think all the blood in my body filled my face. "Mom," I pleaded.

She put down the pan in her hands, dried off and then turned to me. "Sweetie, it's okay. Really. He's a good boy, and I can see how good he is with you. You don't have to be afraid of it. I know you're young, but so was I when I met your father. There are so many wonderful things ahead of you, and if you ever need to talk about anything, you can talk to me. You know that, don't you?"

_My boyfriend is a vampire who was born in 1901, which makes him nearly as old as my father, but he still looks 17 because the man he calls his own father saved him from dying of Spanish Influenza._

Yes. That would come out perfectly.

I sighed softly, lifting my hands to her arms as she held onto me. "I know, Mom. Thank you," I nodded as the door bell rang.

We both stood still, and Fisher's voice floated in from the foyer.

"Keira, Edward and Emmett are here."

I laughed, and my mother squeezed my arms.

"Go on," she nudged. "Go have a good time. Try to be home before nine o'clock tonight, okay?"

I leaned up and kissed her cheek. "Thank you," I said again.

With little else, I turned and left the kitchen, walking into the foyer where Fisher was standing with Emmett and Edward.

They were both dressed casually, in comfortable-looking pants and zip-up jackets. It looked like they were all so at ease with each other, and I realized this was something I'd wanted since before Thanksgiving. If things between Edward and I were going to be so entwined, it only made sense that our families got along. Maybe eventually, Rosalie would feel the same way Emmett and Edward did.

Edward glanced in my direction as soon as I was close enough for him to hear what I was thinking, and I smiled easily.

"Good morning," I greeted happily, moving to his side and encircling his chest with my arms.

He slid his arm around my waist. "Yes, it is a very wonderful morning," he laughed, squeezing me gently.

"Ahem!"

I looked up at Fisher, seeing a curious grin on his face. I grinned back and then looked at Edward. "Let me just go change into some clothes that won't mind getting dirty if we go walking."

He released me reluctantly, and I moved up the stairs more fluidly than I had in months.

Though I wanted to wear my new coat as often as I could, I didn't want it to get dirty since it was brand new. So I pulled my old coat from my closet to pull it on over my old shirt and the pants I usually wore when Edward and I went walking. I pushed my feet into my rubber boots and grabbed my scarf to stay warm.

I was ready to go in less than fifteen minutes. I think it was a record for me.

A hearty chuckle filled the foyer as I left my room and made my way back downstairs, and I noticed Emmett laughing about something with Fisher. Edward was sitting on the bottom step, and I moved to his side to sit down with him.

"Is there something funny I should know about?" I asked softly.

He smiled and took my hand in his. "Sometimes, my brother thinks the most inappropriate things," he mused with a glance in Emmett's direction. "And I have to pretend that it doesn't bother me. I'll be so glad when it's not strange for me to spend the whole day without him on my coattails."

I wrapped my free hand around his arm. "Well, right now, we just have pretend that he's the best brother in the world for driving you all over creation."

Edward laughed. "Yes, I suppose we can."

"So are we goin' or what?" Emmett asked us.

We both looked at him, and only a few more seconds passed before Edward stood up and then pulled me to my feet.

"Have fun, little sister," Fisher encouraged.

I blushed again, bowing my head.

Emmett led the way to his car, and I slid into the front seat like I always did to sit between him and Edward. He gunned the engine gently, grinning at me and then shifting gears so he could pull away from my house. Edward draped his arm over the seat behind me, and I settled back into the seat for our ride to their house.

The road we took was becoming all too familiar when I realized we were nearly there before I thought to look around. We'd taken this path so many times, and I wondered how much longer we would be able to take it. So many different thoughts were filling my head, and the possibilities were overwhelming me. I'd never wanted anything like this in my life, and it felt strange knowing that all I had to do was have it. No one could take it away.

Emmett stopped where he usually did, and Edward and I stepped out of the car to start our walk as the car sped off closer to the house. We were alone in the woods, but I'd never felt safer. I could see that Edward was much more comfortable now that we'd overcome the hurdle of our families spending time together. I wanted to build on that.

"I wanted to do something different today," Edward said as we walked slowly. "But it seems the only way I can do that is to leave town. So I decided we would just walk today, since we can do that without Emmett."

I laughed softly, holding his hand a little tighter. "That's fine," I said shaking my head. "Any time with you is time well-spent."

He pulled me into his arms, and I laid my head over his shoulder, unconsciously breathing him in as deeply as I could.

"I also wanted to tell you more about me," he revealed softly. "There's so much, and I want you to know it all. Not all of it is pleasant, and I need to say it right so it won't scare you."

"You can't scare me away, Edward," I promised.

He bit his lip and glanced around. "I hope that very much," he avowed stopping and looking at me.

He didn't say anything else for a few minutes, and we stood there silently while the world went on around us. He lifted his fingers to my cheek, and I shivered grasping onto him more securely.

"While I was away from Carlisle, I didn't only kill criminals, Keira. I stole and I lied, and I wanted things I could never allow myself to have. The men I killed were something entirely different to all the women who offered themselves to me. It was wrong for them to believe it was something they had no choice in doing."

I listened to what he was saying, only understanding partially and completely confused about everything else.

Cradling my face in both his hands, he lowered his voice a little more, almost trying to soften the words he spoke.

"I met a woman who was so broken and thought so lowly of herself that she allowed everyone she knew to hurt her," he whispered, caressing my skin gently. "I tried to help her, but I couldn't. I think a lot of what I did the last year before I returned to Carlisle was for her. It wasn't enough, but it was all I could do. Underneath her pain and grief of a life lost, she was actually a lot like you. Curious and warm — and forgiving. I still sometimes wonder what she might've become if her life had been different — more like yours with your parents and your brothers."

At a pause, he laid his forehead against mine. I tried to comfort the painful memory he was obviously reliving for my sake, caressing his chin and the gentle curve of his bottom lip.

He smiled and leaned closer, almost kissing me again but whispering instead. "I never thought I would ever want those things — the things I denied myself the few years I was on my own. But these last few months with you have opened my eyes so much. I see the possibilities before us as well, and I want nothing more than to see them with you. It no longer matters how much time we have. Do you understand that?"

I grasped onto his arms, happy but also terrified for some reason.

"I don't mean to frighten you," he insisted, leaning away to look at me. "As a vampire, I simply feel things more intensely than I did when I was human. I never believed something like this would happen to me, but I can't deny that it has. I feel something for you I've never experienced — even though I know what it feels like because I've been around Carlisle and Esme and Rosalie and Emmett so long."

There were no words for me to express how completely wonderful it sounded for him to be saying these things to me. He was unlike any boy I could've possibly encountered over the course of my life, and if anyone had told me before I moved here that I would be doing this right now, I wouldn't have believed them. I'd been so lost and unsure of what I was supposed to be doing, and even though I knew it would be many years before I knew for sure that everything that _had been_ okay before would be that way again, standing there with Edward felt right. It felt good.

The long succession of thoughts from my head seemed to have a profound effect on him, and he laughed softly, holding me closer and caressing the tip of my nose with his.

"It would be very nice if we could actually find a way for you to express those things aloud," he grinned. "But that's all right. As long as I hear them, it's all right."

Wind rustled the trees, and a stray bird squawked loudly, breaking up the moment we found ourselves within. Edward glanced around, lowering his hand to mine. He didn't say anything about where we were going. He simply started walking.

The woods around us should've looked more uninviting than a stray dog pawing through the trash, but I was amazingly content walking through their familiar surroundings. There was no reason for more to be said, but just as we entered th small clearing where Edward had taken me before, he spoke again.

"Most of this is new to me as well," he said as we walked. "But I have actually kissed a girl before." He grinned. "Three actually, and all before I was seventeen."

I laughed softly and nudged him playfully. "That must have been scandalous," I teased, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

A light chuckle bubbled up from his chest. "Well, I suppose. I don't know if anyone realized it. The first was when I was twelve. She was a year older and much more rebellious than I. One could say she was trying to rob me of my virtue. The other two were both when I was fifteen, but it was never anything more than a chaste kiss. Whether it was them or me preventing more from happening, I suppose we'll never know. But now," he said, stopping again and lifting his hand to mine as it rested over his chest. "Now I want it to be different."

There was no denying the fact that I understood what he was saying now much more than I would have when we first met. The things about him that appealed to me now had nothing to do with the way he looked or sounded. He was more protective and much kinder than any other boy I knew — well, other than Fisher. But he was also funny and insightful and modest, and those things meant much more to me than how he looked.

Edward grinned again at what I was thinking, and I blushed. He leaned in a little closer, almost kissing me before he again whispered. "But it's certainly a good quality, yes?"

I laughed and held him tighter. "It's a plus," I joked.

When I thought he might tease me back, he smiled wider and continued walking, obviously happy with the fact that I wasn't completely blind to the fact that he was very attractive — aesthetically and intellectually.

The clearing was wetter today than it had been before, but my boots kept me from getting dirty. As soon as we were at the spot where I knew he would want to climb the tree he had previously, I only paused for a second so he could pull me onto his back. I shut my eyes and held onto him as tightly as I could less than a second before he began climbing. Ascension was quicker this time, and the air was cooler when we reached our resting spot, but I wasn't scared. At this point, I didn't think anything would really frighten me anymore, and with that, so many more thoughts were running through my head.

Now that they'd accepted me to a degree we could all agree on, he was much more open than I thought possible. Rosalie was still wary of me, even though Emmett was about as ecstatic at my presence as a six-year-old child opening his first present on Christmas morning. Esme was more polite and gentle than the most polite and gentlest mother that ever existed other than my own, and she never overlooked my comfort or ease. Carlisle was the most amazing father figure, other than my father of course, and he was a wealth of information to my eager mind. He had books on just about every subject I could imagine wanting to read about. I couldn't believe the year had come to this — me, the new girl in town being friends with a family more beautiful and incredible than any other family should've been. I could still remember the talk Carlisle had sat down with me to have about his family — Vampires.

Why wasn't I scared? I should've run away screaming the first time Carlisle had told me this unbelievable story. But he'd been so serious. So earnest. So gentle. He'd made sure I was aware of their situation, and he told me that it was better for me to not become involved. But he assured me that I was safe whenever I was in their presence. I couldn't really speak for Rosalie yet, but I knew she wouldn't hurt me.

Now that I was standing precariously in the upper limbs of a pine tree with Edward holding me securely against him, I wasn't really thinking about Carlisle. I wasn't really thinking about Rosalie. I was only thinking about Edward. He was here in front of me, and I wanted him to kiss me again. I wanted his lips on mine, and I wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed only by him. His hands held me possessively, smiling as his nose lingered close to mine.

The shade of his pale, icy skin was perfectly snow white, with a slight blush in his cheeks, indicating he had hunted recently. The shape of his lips made an oval with his upper lip curved to one side as he grinned and his lower lip much fuller and slightly tantalizing — inviting me to kiss him. The line of his jaw was straight and smooth, and at the moment, with his grin, his jaw was a little slack with amusement. Apparently, something was funny.

"You do this a lot, I gather," I teased softly, grasping onto his shirt and trying not to rest my back against the tree behind me.

"Hold beautiful girls perilously high above the ground?" he asserted, rubbing the tip of his nose against mine.

I laughed softly. "Climb trees," I pressed.

He looked around the treetops, and I did too, taking in the breathtaking view as the forest stretched out around us. I'd never seen a view like this one in all my life, not even when I'd been visiting my grandmother before she died. I'd never thought it was possible for a place like this to exist, but being here again with Edward made it feel surreal and dreamlike.

"Sometimes," he admitted to my question. "When I need a break from Rose and Emmett. When I thought I was going mad from all the monotony of the tiny town I've had to live in the last several months of my life."

"When was the last time you came out here without me?" I asked, feeling our breath mingle gently and amazed how it caused a set of deep chills to ease over my body. I almost lost my footing and he held me closer.

He opened his eyes, their brilliant emerald hue almost electric as he gazed at me. "It was before I . . . met you," he confessed with a grin. "After that first day we spoke in French, I couldn't deny how you began to permeate my thoughts. I couldn't figure you out, and I'm still struggling with my inability to do so. But you've seemed able to suck the urgency right out of Rose and Emmett's show. For that, I believe I will be thanking you for a very long time."

I leaned closer, caressing the tip of his nose with mine and allowing our breath to mingle more until our lips were almost touching. "Until I'm old and gray?" I whispered.

He laid his forehead against mine. "Longer," he swore.

He nudged the tip of his nose along the inside of my cheek, causing me to lean my head back up he whispered again. "Try very hard not to move," he pleaded. "I'm still a little uncertain of how this will affect me, but I want this to be different from our first kiss. Do you understand that?"

I wrapped my arms around his neck and shoulders, combing my fingers through his hair at the back of his head and feeling him shiver slightly. I laughed softly, reveling in my ability to make him react to my touch. His hands eased down my back to my waist, and I whispered softly. "I'm all yours," I promised.

His grin became a smile, much more beautiful than any smile I'd been graced with so far, and while he was still close, he gently leaned forward, brushing my lips with his and again sending a million tendrils of electricity down my spine and back up into my neck. I barely had time to react as he closed the distance between us more easily than any other boy would have. His lips made contact with mine gently, his cool lips strong and full as he pulled me closer until my feet left the tree limb I was perched on.

I held him tighter, locking my arms around his neck and trusting him completely as he took our second kiss even further by opening my mouth and tentatively easing his tongue along my upper lip. Even more electricity struck me, and I lifted my hand to the top of his head as my own deeply imbedded instincts caused me to lean into him until I was literally hanging there by sheer force of will. I felt like I was floating and he was the only thing I needed to stay in the air. It didn't matter where I was or how I'd gotten there.

He lessened the intensity in his lips slowly, laying his forehead against mine gently and loosening his hold on me. I touched my feet to the limb and relaxed, but almost as soon as I did, the dreamworld disintegrated as I slipped and lost my footing completely. I fell the few feet from where we'd been standing, and he caught me with a startled expression on his face. I was glad for his hand, and he began to pull me up even as my heart pounded in my chest harder than it ever had — even when he'd just kissed me and held me. I was almost back to where I'd been before when a bird suddenly took off from a limb above us and took his eyes off me for less than a split second, and though he tried to keep my hand in his, I slipped again, falling faster than it seemed possible.

The air whistled passed my ears, drowning out the sound of his voice as he called to me and began his descent from the tree. He stepped down like he was merely taking a step to the ground that wasn't a hundred feet below him, and I realized he meant to catch me. I reached for him with as much of my hands and fingers as I could, but it wasn't enough. I'd thought I was completely safe with him, that if anything were to happen to me, he would be the one thing that kept me alive and secure. But as I fell from the tree he'd ascended with me in his arms, all I could think was that I'd slipped right out of his hands.

The last thing I saw, before I felt the sharp pain in my back and then my chest, was Edward landing on the ground less than fifty feet away. The pain was immediate and confusing. I could still breathe, and I could still move. Something wet and warm filled my mouth, and I realized it was my own blood. I was bleeding inside my own body, and there was nothing I could do about it. I was hanging there with what felt like a jagged spear puncturing my back and sticking out of my chest, and I was going to die. Edward was going to watch me die, and it wasn't fair that I had to die like this. It wasn't fair that I might not get to see his face before the darkness began to overpower my vision.

I thought about Fisher and my parents. Kyle. I was never going to see them again. I thought about Abigail. She'd been so excited about me spending time with Edward. I'd been excited for her being able to spend time with Fisher. Now all of that seemed so unimportant. So insignificant.

I tried to focus on the trees above me — tried to focus on Edward's face as he appeared above me in front of the trees. But it was no use. The pain was overwhelming now, spurred on by the pounding of my heart until it touched every centimeter of my body and paralyzed me unwaveringly. I could no longer differentiate a soft caress from a hard blow to the chest. Everything hurt. Nothing felt good anymore. Was my life so worthless that I was being forced to perish this way?

It just wasn't fair.

* * *

_**Though the response here hasn't been very vocal, I can assure you everything happening right now has been planned from the very beginning. Comment? Speculate? Please.**_

_**And no, I'm not going to clue you in as to what will happen next. You're gonna have to guess.**_

_**Like I said, I'll try to have the next chapter out by the end of the week. But real life, you know?**_

_**See you next time!  
**_


	20. Accident 2

_**And now for the conclusion of the last chapter which is obviously set directly after it. I know this will be a little confusing, but I plan on using Carlisle the same way JK Rowling used Dumbledore and Hermione. As long as he explains it, hopefully, it will make sense.**_

_**And this won't be one of those "I knew it!" moments. It will be very shocking and confusing for a lot of the characters.**_

_**I won't say much else until we're at the bottom.  
**_

* * *

_**Accident**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

There was blood everywhere as I hurried to where Keira had fallen, realizing how deep the shards of stone had punctured her body and doing everything I could to hold my breath even as I watched her slip into unconsciousness from losing so much blood. I lifted her in my arms, carefully removing her from the rocks she'd been impaled on and then carrying her to the ground. She was warm, dangerously so as I leaned over her and listened as she coughed up her own blood.

"Keira," I whispered, touching her forehead and then her cheek. "Keira, please. Keira!" I pleaded.

She either couldn't reply and didn't know how over the pain I was certain she was experiencing. I needed to get to her to Carlisle. Now.

I lifted her in my arms, cradling her against me even as blood poured from her wound. I realized the rocks had completely punctured her right lung, and I didn't know what Carlisle could do to fix it, but he would have to. I didn't want her to die because of something I'd done. I'd dropped her. I'd caused her to lose control. I'd decided to climbed a tree with her and put her in danger. I couldn't let her die like this.

I ran with her in my arms faster than I'd ever run in my life, making an unplanned path through the forest back to my house even though I knew we were more than two miles away. She never moved. She never spoke. I was afraid she was already dead and I was too late. I couldn't save her now — not like I'd wanted or needed to. I'd never wanted this for her, but it was all my fault that she was bleeding more heavily than any other person ever had around me — even Rosalie and Emmett.

The back porch of my house came into my view from five hundred feet away, and I yelled, knowing Carlisle would hear me. He needed to be ready, for whatever he would be able to do, and I didn't care how many of the others heard me. Rosalie's reluctance to at least accept Keira the way she was aside, this was much more important to me than appearances. I knew Keira was no damsel in distress. She'd never asked me to be her savior, to rescue her from the loneliness and sadness she'd possessed when we'd first met. I'd _wanted_ to save her.

I saw Carlisle before I was within two hundred feet of the porch, and I could see the confusion in his face for the first few dozen feet until I knew he could see and smell the blood soaking through to most of my torso from Keira's body. He hurried inside, moving with lightening speed and returning with all his medical supplies, and he knelt to the porch as I arrived. I laid Keira on the porch, and he immediately leaned over her.

"What happened?" he asked softly, touching her face and then her neck before he moved his hands over her chest.

"We were in the forest," I said. "She fell. I — She slipped out of my hands. I didn't mean to drop her. I swear. Carlisle, please. Please tell me you can help her."

He didn't say anything, examining every centimeter of her wound until he was less than an inch from her body. Then he spoke confidently. "She's punctured her lung and several contributory blood vessels," he informed me. "You brought her here immediately?"

"Of course," I insisted incredulously. "What can I do? Please, Carlisle. She can't die."

He lifted her body from the porch, feeling her back and then lifting his eyes to mine. "I'm sorry, Edward. But we're too far from the hospital, and I would have to explain this to the authorities. And she's already lost several pints of blood. We would have to contact her parents, her father working closely with the police, and we shouldn't involve them in our lives. It was harmful enough that you involved her to begin with. I only wish I could've — "

The certainty on his face changed only minimally, but I still saw it, looking up as Esme and Rosalie came out onto the porch.

"Oh, my God," Esme gasped, kneeling beside Carlisle and then looking at me. "What's happened? Edward."

"It was an accident," I said softly, bowing my head almost shamefully. "I tried to get her here as soon as possible, but . . ." I looked at Carlisle as he still held his hand to Keira's back. "What's wrong? Is she . . ."

"I can't be for certain, but for a small second, it felt as though her wound was shrinking."

His thoughts centered around the few of his patients who'd come into the hospital with similar injuries, but this time it was different. I could tell as the milliseconds ticked by that he was experiencing something he never had. I didn't know exactly what he was talking about, but what he was saying didn't make any sense. How could the wound that had punctured her back and exited her chest _shrink_?

"Carlisle," Rosalie said, "what do you see?" she asked, kneeling behind him near where I was sitting at Keira's side holding her hand.

He was silent for another several half-seconds, long enough for the confusion on his face to intensify. "I'm almost certain of it now," he said with a nod. "Her wound is smaller now than it was a few seconds ago. I'm not sure how, but I can feel it."

"How is that possible?" Rosalie asked. "She's human. No human can do that."

Carlisle took his next few movements very carefully as he unbuttoned the front of her shirt to uncover her wound as blood soaked her shirt and the pants she'd worn on our trek through the woods. Drops of Keira's blood were splattered over her face, and she was already pale from losing so much of her blood. I was still covered in enough of her blood to make the burn in my throat worse than it had been at my most thirsty, but I paid no attention. What he was saying didn't make any sense, but the more I looked, the more I realized he was right. The large hole punched through her chest _was_ shrinking. Minimally so, but still.

"Edward, I need your hand here," Carlisle instructed, pulling my hand and laying it over the right side of her chest. Almost as soon as I applied pressure to her wound, the most amazing thing happened as she burst back to life beneath my hand with the loudest, most beautiful gasp I'd ever heard in my entire life.

Rosalie jumped to her feet within a split second, and Esme followed her. They backed away from where we'd settled, but Carlisle didn't move. He didn't look surprised, but there was no way he could've predicted anything like this happening. He continued to press his hand into her back, and after a few more seconds, she opened her eyes, pulling in and pushing out air like a marathon runner would after a long race. She lifted her hand to my arm, clenching her teeth and obviously in more pain than she had been upon initially being injured.

I couldn't hide my amazement, touching her face gently. "It's okay," I whispered. "You're okay. I'm here. Keira."

Her breathing became ragged and she coughed up more blood as Carlisle worked to keep her still. He injected her with what I hoped was something for her pain, and even though she looked at me, she said nothing, her hand on my arm going slack as her eyes closed slowly. For an even smaller half-second, I was afraid again. But then I heard her heart beat softly. It stuttered for a second, and then it beat again.

Carlisle worked more quickly than I thought he possibly could, using what supplies he had to suture the wound in her back despite the damage done to the inside of her body, and he instructed me to turn her to her side so he could tape a bandage to her back. Then he pressed another piece of gauze to her chest.

"We should take her upstairs," he told me. "I'll need to look at this more closely, and we'll all need to keep a very close eye on her."

I didn't wait, lifting her in my arms and moving into the house as Rosalie watched me more closely than she ever had since I'd known her. She kept her arms wrapped around her chest tightly, thinking the only thing she could about what she'd just seen.

_It's just not human! Never in all my life, have I ever seen something so . . ._

I didn't respond to her thoughts, glancing at Esme and then stepping inside to make it up to my room. Just four or five days earlier before Christmas, we'd been sitting over the lounge chair reading for our English class. Now I was going to be laying her blood-soaked body over that same lounge chair. There was an immense sadness in that.

Emmett was waiting on the stairs when I came into the foyer, and I walked passed him without paying attention to what he was thinking. He looked at me and then Keira, but he didn't say anything, looking passed me at Carlisle. I continued on up the stairs, looking at Keira as she laid unconscious in my arms. I could feel her breathing about as shallow as any human could, and her heart was barely beating. But she was alive. I was confused, but I was grateful. I didn't know how it was possible, but I didn't care.

Carlisle stepped into my room behind me, moving around to the lounge chair and kneeling beside it as I laid her down as gently as I possibly could. He laid his fingers over her neck, gauging her pulse and temperature at the same time. "I have no basis for comparison in this situation," he said gravely. "I've never encountered a human who could do this, but I believe I understand what's happening."

"What's happening to her?" I pleaded, kneeling at her other side and still holding her hand.

"There's been some documentation among circles of the medical community that claimed they'd seen random people develop the ability for their body to heal like this. The human body can heal itself already, but these random people were able to heal their bodies at an alarming rate, sometimes within days, but sometimes within hours and seconds, depending on the severity of their injuries. I've never seen it myself, but this, what I'm seeing and feeling, seems to be exactly what I've read. I'll have to do more research, and we'll more than likely need samples of her blood to run chemical analysis, but I believe she's developed this ability. This ability to heal her body very quickly and from even the most serious of injuries."

I looked at Keira, seeing her still unconscious and trying to process what Carlisle was saying. The way he explained it made it seem a little more possible, but it was still unbelievable. How did those people develop this ability? Was it in their DNA? Had it been a part of their genetic make-up? Did they inherit it from a family member? Or was it really random?

"I'll ask Esme to clean her up," Carlisle announced, rising slowly. "We'll need to keep an eye on her over the next several hours, at least until she wakes up. I'll call her parents after we've gotten a clearer idea of what to say that will allow her to remain here until she's completely healed. I'll be back," he swore, moving to the door and leaving me alone with Keira.

When it was just me with Keira, everything I'd just gone through played over again in my head — kissing her and feeling her heart fly as our lips touched, her feet slipping from the tree limb beneath her and my hand flying out to catch her, that insufferable eagle squawking and taking my eyes off Keira for the fraction of a second it had taken me to lose my grip on her, watching her fall nearly a hundred feet to the rocks below. How could I have been so stupid? What had I been thinking taking her out into the woods and climbing a tree with her? Had I already forgot how fragile she was in the few months we'd been close to each other? What was wrong with me?

And now she was laying unconscious on the lounge chair in my room with a gaping hole in her chest the size of my fist. I couldn't even imagine what it must have felt like for her — to fall and then become impaled on the rock I'd pulled her from. She must have been so scared, and I'd done nothing to prevent it. I'd been _unable_ to prevent it. I'd never felt so helpless than I did now, watching her face and her eyes and her chest as it rose gently with her slight breathing. In a world with Vampires and Werewolves and shape-shifters, the idea of this — a human who could heal herself from such a massive wound — had never crossed my mind. And why should it? I'd never seen it before in the whole of my existence on this earth. Even Carlisle hadn't believed it until he'd seen it with his own eyes, skilled as they were to the Human Condition.

Suddenly, I was remembering Christmas only a couple of days earlier when Keira and her family had come to my house for the holiday. Things had been so perfect then, with Esme finally able to talk to someone who understood the intricacies of house decor, and Carlisle able to interact with a man who was for all intents and purposes the most down-to-earth person any of us had ever encountered. Emmett and Rosalie had even enjoyed having Fisher and Kyle in the house, and I had to admit, I'd enjoyed it as well. It had made us feel almost normal. It had snowed that day, also sleeting enough to make it slightly dangerous to travel on the roads. Mr. Jones, or Walter as he'd insisted I call him, had been completely prepared with a fresh set of tires and chains on his car for the foul weather to keep his family safe.

Even mimicking the action of eating and drinking had been surprisingly easy enough to simulate and gloss over with humans in the house. Rosalie had refused to eat, deciding to decorate the tree in our living room instead and then only pretending to drink a cup of tea while she and Fisher stood in the living room talking about a stray English paper. Kyle's attitude had improved slightly over the last month of watching me and his sister interact, and it had been interesting to listen to him and Emmett debate over baseball and football teams even though it wasn't even baseball or football season. They also compared favorite basketball teams, and I knew it was an enjoyable experience for Emmett to finally talk to someone whom he could still argue and laugh with. It had been a precarious experience to say the least, but it had felt like a new tradition in the making.

Until now.

It felt like a million years had passed since that day, and Keira's birthday was just a couple of days away. And today could've been her last had it not been for some strange anomaly in her body that had allowed her to heal from the massive wound that, for all intents and purposes, I'd inflicted on her myself without any real regard for her safety. At the very least, that should've been paramount to everything else I'd done so far. I should have at least known something bad could've happened to her with the way things had been between us. I _was_ a vampire. And she _was_ human. That fact alone should've meant more to me than anything else. And it had been the very thing to cause her to fall and get hurt.

"Edward," Esme called, and I looked back to see her standing in the cracked door alone.

I bowed my head then, listening to Keira's heartbeat and her lungs, and Esme stepped into the room with a set of clothes in her arms along with a pitcher of water and a washcloth. I didn't need her to say anything to me — not even the notion that any of this wasn't my fault. I knew it was all my fault. I knew Keira had never really been safe around me. The fact that she'd discovered my secret the hard way and gotten chased down by Emmett in the middle of the woods should've been the first indicator. But I'd allowed it all to continue, believing that I would do everything I could to inform her of how cautious she had to be and how hard I would work to keep her protected from that side of me.

"The water's warm," Esme said, "if you want to help me. I know it's not the best thing, but you shouldn't really blame yourself for this. We're all responsible."

She dipped the washcloth in the water then, moving it over the side of Keira's face and wiping away the few drops of blood staining her skin. I watched silently, seeing a small improvement in her coloring and seeing an image of Fisher flash through her mind. I knew we would have to come up with an especially good story to tell her family, but Fisher more than anyone else. He was so protective of her. I wasn't sure he would ever forgive me if he knew this had happened while she'd been in my care. She wasn't even sixteen yet. I didn't even know what this meant for her.

Esme eased the washcloth over the whole of Keira's face, smiling even as she cleaned out the cloth in the pitcher. "She really is very beautiful," she said softly. "I haven't had a chance to really look at her until now."

"This should never have happened," I whispered. "I knew this would happen; I just foolishly hoped it wouldn't — like I could control the hands of fate."

"Edward, don't do that," Esme chastised, prompting me to look at her. "It was just as much Keira's choice to be near you as it was your choice to be near her. You might not want to hear it from me, but she's just as responsible in all of this as you are. And she chose to be with you today. When she wakes up, I'm sure she'll tell you just as much."

"But I decided to climb that tree," I argued. "I decided to take her with me. We could've gone anywhere else. We could've done anything else."

"And you'll always wonder if this hadn't happened, would she have developed this incredible ability? But the reality and miracle of it is that she did."

I bowed my head again, hearing Carlisle's steady foot steps coming up the stairs and resigning myself to sit next to Keira and wait for her to awaken. He came in with more bandages and a small syringe. Emmett and Rosalie were waiting on the other side of the door, and they were both getting anxious — for two completely different reasons.

"How is she?" Carlisle asked, kneeling behind Esme and gazing at Keira's bandage. "She's stopped bleeding, I see." _Her pulse and breathing have come back up to normal,_ he thought with a small glance in my direction. _That's a very good sign. I believe she'll be just fine now._

"No thanks to me, I'm sure," I whispered. I didn't need to look at him to see the sympathetic expression on his face.

Neither Carlisle nor Esme said anything as he pulled out a new set of bandages and antiseptic. Esme helped him tie a tourniquet around her arm so he could draw some of her blood. Once that was done, he began working to clean around the edge of her wound on her chest which was now a few centimeters smaller than it had been upon first inspection. A rather intrigued expression crossed his face, and I'm not sure what caused it as the words came out of my mouth.

"Could you perhaps not look at her like she's a new project for you to study?" I pleaded, not meaning to sound angry and failing as Carlisle lifted his eyes to mine.

_I apologize, son,_ he thought gently. _But we _do_ need to know how this happened. I didn't mean to appear indelicate. It's the curious nature I possess, I suppose._

I huffed looking away as he and Esme moved Keira's shirt out of the way so they could replace the bandage on her wound. If I'd been able, I'm certain I would have blushed knowing her bare chest was less than a couple of feet from me. But she was hurt, and it was inappropriate for me to look at her that way. At least that part of my upbringing was still intact.

"Probably a twenty-eighth of the tissue damage has already healed itself," Carlisle revealed, his voice upbeat and hopeful. "By this rate, she might heal herself within the next several days. We'll know more as the hour passes. Esme, darling, would you clean the edge of her wound here, and I'll lay a new bandage down."

_She's still so fragile,_ Esme thought, her eyes finding mine as I glanced at her. _It seems she is still human, just less delicate._

They worked together silently, removing Keira's shirt completely and then replacing the bandage on her back before Carlisle wrapped a compression bandage around Keira's torso from her waist to the space under her arms.

"Not too tight," Esme said softly. "Just enough to help the clotting. We'll have to wait for the bath until she can sit up."

"She should only need a few days rest at the rate she's healing," Carlisle gauged. "Edward."

I looked at him.

"You could probably lay down with her in our room," he offered. "We should destroy this before the smell gets too far. We have _other_ things to worry about now that she's healing."

"The clothes also," Esme said. She looked at me. "I'll change her before you lie down."

"Edward, you should change," Carlisle suggested, reminding me that I was sitting there in the clothes that were still soaked through with Keira's blood. The smell had somehow permeated my senses and no longer tickled the edges of my thirst. I wasn't sure how I would react the next time I smelled it.

I didn't argue with Carlisle, watching him and Esme handle Keira and then rising with them as they left my room, and consequently the bloody lounge chair, to meet Emmett and Rosalie in the hallway. Carlisle nodded to Emmett, whom immediately entered my room for the furniture we would be destroying. Rosalie took it upon herself to direct me into the bathroom, and for the time being, I was forced to leave Keira in far more capable hands than my own.

I undressed mechanically, depositing the bloody clothes in a waste basket Rosalie provided and then stepping up in the shower which was already running and steaming up the bathroom with scorching hot water. It wasn't as easy as I'd hoped to close my eyes and attempt to wash away the memory no matter how hot the water was, and all I could do was stand there and think over it again and again. The blood that had soaked my marble-like skin washed down the drain, filling the bathroom with her smell and almost sending me into convulsions. I'd caused this. I'd nearly killed her — all because I had to climb a tree with her and kiss her more than a hundred feet from the ground where we would have been just as content and much more safe. I was so stupid.

Clothes were waiting for me when I stepped out of the shower, and I changed into the cotton pants and shirt unceremoniously as the door opened to reveal Rosalie there waiting. I didn't listen to anything she thought, stepping out of the bathroom and turning to step into Carlisle and Esme's room even as she spoke.

"She's just as responsible for this for you are," she told me, her voice unapologetic and her thoughts just as harsh.

"So you would prefer we would be arranging a funeral for her now," I demanded, facing her with my fists clenched. "As opposed to discovering something about her just as dangerous as anything she knows about us. Does none of this affect you at all? I'm the one who's a hundred times stronger than she is. I'm the one who's a thousand times faster than she is, and I'm supposed to be smarter than she could ever hope to be. I should've known better than to subject her to this existence, and now, she will never be the same. This is my fault. And I don't care how you wish I'd never brought her here. It won't change the fact that I'm never going to be able to erase this for her memory. It won't change the fact that we all have to protect her now, the same way we need her to protect us. I believe she's just made up for merely being human," I grit out, glaring at Rosalie and then turning to move into Carlisle and Esme's room where they were currently tending to Keira's bandages.

They both looked up from Keira when I stepped into the room, and I bowed my head when I realized they were still dressing her in some of Esme's clothes. The clothes she'd been wearing before were now in a pile on the floor, and her bare shoulders and her hips were exposed to the cool air of the room. I couldn't tell if she was cold or not, but Esme pulled a long-sleeved shirt over her head and then summoned me forward silently. Carlisle was still sitting at Keira's side, taking her pulse and mentally marveling at the fact that she was now breathing evenly despite there being a shrinking hole in her right lung.

"She seems to be healing at a very good rate," Carlisle said confidently. "It's still only a small rate percent, but that could change once she's had enough rest." He glanced at Esme, and then at me again. "We'll leave you two alone for the time being. We'll have to wait until nightfall to burn the chair and all the clothes. I'll check on you then. Before we leave."

I didn't say anything to them as they left, watching Keira sleep from the end of the bed as she breathed in and out so softly a normal human wouldn't have been able to hear her. I wanted to hold her, but I didn't want to hurt her. She moved slightly, groaning softly, and I moved instantly, at her side before she could turn completely to her back. I caught her as smoothly and gently as I could, holding her against me as she groaned again.

"You're all right," I whispered, the tip of my nose touching hers. "I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

I'd never laid this close to a girl before in my life, not even a human girl. Though I'd been seventeen when Carlisle had turned me, I'd only had trivial contact with the opposite sex, instead deciding to focus on the news of the times and wanting so desperately to sign up for the war as soon as I was old enough. My parents had been reluctant more than anything else. My father had wanted me to be a lawyer, and my mother had wanted me to be married to a nice girl. But then we'd all become sick, and all the hopes and plans they'd had for my future had been replaced by something neither of them could've possibly imagined.

Carlisle and Esme, just like my mother and father, had wanted only the best for me, and when Rosalie and Emmett had come along, they'd amended that to want nothing but for me to be happy. They'd never really thought I might be happy with a human girl, but laying here with Keira healing in my arms was making me think that was exactly what they'd thought. Maybe they'd known all along that this is what I wanted. _She _was what I wanted. And the fact that she'd just survived one of the worst accidents I'd ever seen only meant the future of her life was uncertain. Mine had just come back into focus.

I laid with Keira most of the rest of the afternoon, listening to Carlisle as he phoned into town to talk with Keira's parents. He told them she'd eaten a bad batch of fish, and he didn't feel comfortable moving her at the moment. Keira's father asked to speak to her, but Carlisle smoothly dodged him by saying she was currently medicated and unable to talk. Carlisle assured him of her well-being, and when it sounded like everything had been established, they said good-bye for the time being. But I knew that would only keep until the next morning, and then I knew we would all have to reevaluate the situation in front of us. I wondered if Keira would be healed enough by morning to go home or if she would need several days to heal completely the way Carlisle wanted her to before she left him. I knew I would go with her if she did. I couldn't be away from her now, and I had to protect her in case her mother or Fisher happened to see what had happened to her.

It was just getting dark outside when Keira moved again, and this time, her thoughts aligned easily with her consciousness. She inhaled deeply, easily even though the right side of her chest shook with discomfort, and she lifted her hand to my face as I still laid in front of her. She opened her eyes slowly then, the irises of her eyes still hidden as she seemed to take in the fact that I was so close, and when she lifted her eyes to mine, I saw a glimmer of relief as she lowered her hand to my neck and then grasped onto the shirt I was wearing.

"You're here," she whispered, her voice gravelly and filled with phlegm in the back of her throat. She attempted to clear it, failing as she laid her head against the front of my shoulder.

I held her closer, moving my face in front of hers and laying my forehead over hers. "I'm here. And I'm never leaving you again. I swear." I paused, and she seemed to remember the fall and the pain and my face. I inhaled slowly, whispering softly. "Keira, I'm so sorry. If I'd held onto you tighter . . ."

"How long have I been . . . asleep?" she whispered hoarsely.

"All afternoon. Nearly five hours. The sun is setting now. Keira, what are you feeling right now? I mean, physically. Are you in pain?"

She thought about it nearly a minute, remembering the pain in her back and then her chest and the blood in her mouth. "My chest feels heavy," she said finally. "And my throat is dry."

As if on cue, the door opened then, allowing Carlisle and Esme inside with fresh bandages and a pitcher of water with lemon in it. They smiled when they saw us, their thoughts the same as the images played back in their minds. I was really going to have to talk to them about things like this.

Esme approached us first, sitting behind Keira and then switching on the bedside lamp before she spoke softly. "You're awake," she said cheerfully, and then she smiled at me. "How long?"

"Just a few moments," I replied softly. "She's thirsty."

"I expected she would be," Esme laughed softly, lifting a glass and the pitcher to pour half a glass of water before she moved forward a few inches to help Keira sit up.

Keira groaned again, and I sat up with her, allowing her lean back into my and feeling something wet soak through to my chest. I smelled blood and looked down to see a spot of blood now on my shirt the size of a baseball.

"She's bleeding again," I told Carlisle, and he moved to sit beside me so he could look over her bandages.

Together, the three of us tended to Keira as Esme allowed her to drink the water in tiny sips while Carlisle removed her shirt to pull the bandage off. The sutures he'd put in earlier were gone, and in their place, new skin had healed over even though a part of her back nearly the width of her ribs was still exposed. There was no infection, no dead skin the way there should've been. Before my eyes, I could see her muscles and bones healing themselves gently. It was more incredible than anything I'd ever seen.

"Edward, keep her still," Carlisle whispered, reaching into his medical bag and retrieving more suture supplies.

I removed my own shirt, gazing over Keira's wound. "I don't think she needs those," I told him, touching the parts of her back that had already healed. "Don't you see? They've all dissolved. I think it will only hinder her."

Keira was surprisingly silent during my and Carlisle's quiet talk, and Esme poured her another half glass while keeping an eye on the two of us. I realized Keira was sitting there without a shirt to cover her torso, and I nodded to Esme to find her something to cover her chest while Carlisle continued assessing the situation silently.

"Are you all right?" I asked Keira softly, turning so that I was at her side while Carlisle still looked over her back. "You're not scared, are you?"

She clutched the glass in her hand, keeping the shirt Esme had given her over her chest despite the large hole over her right lung. "I'm . . . confused. I can't remember how I got here."

I lifted my fingers to her forehead, moving strands of her hair from her face. "What do you remember last?" I whispered.

"A tree. You. We kissed. There was a bird. The wind blew passed me so fast. There was this pain — heavy, instant. Something warm was in my mouth. And then I woke up in here."

I turned her face to look at her, and she took a sip of her water. "So you don't remember waking up downstairs on the porch?"

She shook her head.

I leaned forward, kissing her forehead and then laying mine against hers. Her thoughts were centered around Carlisle's hands as he touched various healing places over her back, but every few seconds, I could see my face the way I'd looked when she'd burst to life on the porch beneath my hands. Every few seconds, I could see me dropping to the ground near her and then above her as I touched her face and called for her. But there was no sound. No sound but that of her pounding heart.

"Everything's going to be all right," I promised her. "I'm right here."

I didn't know if she was purposefully pushing all the thoughts of the accident away, but I didn't care. She was alive, and that was all that really mattered. Beyond that, I knew we would figure everything else out in time.

"If I can't suture her wound," Carlisle said after a moment of silence, "we'll have to keep it covered as tightly as possible until she stops bleeding. I'll need another bandage to wrap around her, and she'll need antibiotics in the event that she might get an infection. I don't want to leave her, but I need more supplies than I have here, and the hospital — "

"I'll go."

Emmett's voice startled me as he appeared at the door more determined than I'd seen in a long time.

Carlisle rose from the bed, and Emmett moved further into the room.

"Tell me what you need," Emmett pleaded. "I'll get it for you if it means you can stay here where she needs you."

After a glance in my direction and a responsive nod from me, Carlisle guided Emmett out of the room, whispering to him the several items he would need from the hospital for Keira. His voice faded the farther away he got, and I remained next to Keira, more grateful for Emmett's presence than I had been since meeting him ten years earlier.

It became obvious to me then that she was just as important a figure in his life as she was in mine. I couldn't have asked for a more precious gift than that.

* * *

_**So, does this make up for the last chapter being so short? I hope so. I know a lot of you read, and I'm grateful anyone reads it but me, but I'd really like to hear from you.**_

_**What do you think of this? How does it sit with you? Tell me.**_

_**Next chapter might be a little while, but if you want it, I'll get it out as soon as I can.**_

_**See ya later. Have a Happy New Year!  
**_


	21. Recovering & Discovering

_**Been a few weeks, I know, but here we are! Thanks to everyone who's reading.**_

_**See you at the bottom.  
**_

* * *

_**Recovering & Discovering**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

I refused to leave Keira alone in the house, but Carlisle didn't want to leave the two of us by ourselves with so much happening. So, after Emmett returned with everything Carlisle needed, we compromised, wrapping Keira's chest as tightly as possible without causing her further discomfort before we dressed her in some of Esme's clothes. The coat Keira had worn to my house was ruined, and we had to improvise something to keep her warm as we all left the house together. Emmett carried to soaked lounge chair, and Carlisle toted a paper bag filled with my and Keira's clothes. Rosalie and Esme kept their senses on our surroundings as we walked — Rosalie more begrudgingly than Esme. I paid attention to nothing but Keira while absently following Carlisle through the woods.

"Where are we going?" Keira asked softly, her head on my shoulder.

I looked in her eyes as they helplessly attempted to focus in the growing darkness. "We have to destroy everything with your blood on it," I explained as gently as I could.

"Why?" she whispered.

Inhaling, I lifted my eyes to Carlisle, wondering if time was right to reveal this to her. He glanced over his shoulder at me but said nothing. He bowed his head, agreeing that it was all right, and I returned my attention to Keira. "Do you remember when we were collecting our samples for our Science Project?" I whispered. She nodded. "You know I told you about the local Native Indian tribe?" Again, she nodded. "Well, they're not an ordinary tribe. It's a little complicated, but when we moved into the area, we discovered their secret just as they discovered ours. And we formed a truce with them of sorts that we would never harm another human being, no matter how unintentional," I stipulated, glancing at Emmett. Then I continued. "And they agreed to leave us alone."

"What was their secret?" she asked logically.

Again, Carlisle glanced at me, but I could see he still wanted me to tell Keira so she would know. After nearly another minute, I spoke again softly.

"You've heard of vampires, yes?" I asked. She nodded. "Have you ever heard of a shape-shifter? A human who can change their shape at will." This time, she shook her head. I paused, collecting my thoughts. "Well, hundreds of years ago, perhaps more, this particular tribe was . . . attacked by my kind. Two vampires. The attack awakened what they came to call their spirit warrior — the wolf, and it was made to protect the tribe from vampires. They believe having us close triggers a physical reaction. We do nothing to provoke them, but this will more than likely cause somewhat of a problem."

"So . . . they're men who shape-shift into wolves?" Keira asked, instantly thinking of a raging beast howling at the moon.

"Yes," I confirmed, "but they're not werewolves. Lycanthropy is an affliction of the flesh, or sometimes witchcraft. No, these men transform to protect their people and their land. You'll see — eventually."

She relaxed then, laying her head over my shoulder again, and several seconds passed as we all walked.

"I think I knew it all along," I whispered suddenly.

"What?" she inquired lifting her head again.

I lowered my eyes to hers a second time. "About you," I clarified. "This. It all makes perfect sense to me now."

She laid her head back down. "At least someone understands it. I know I don't."

I smiled sadly. "Oh, I don't understand it," I argued softly. "Not at all. But I knew it. I knew something was different about you. I always thought it was inside your mind — this sadness you always seemed to have even when you looked happy. I thought . . . someone had hurt you. But it was in you this entire time — whatever this is. I don't know how it's possible, and I have no clue how to figure out what we're to do next. But we'll discover it together."

"It doesn't scare you?"

I hesitated, glancing up at Carlisle and hearing that he was still going over one theory after another. "It . . . worries me," I confessed. "I don't know what it means. For you. Carlisle's never seen anything like this in all his years, and he's seen enough. Does this mean I no longer need to protect you, even if I know you're still vulnerable? How are we supposed to keep you safe if anyone discovers this?"

I had no answers, and it appeared she didn't either as she held me tighter. We weren't as far from the house as Carlisle would've liked, but he stopped, smelling the air.

"Where were you when you and she . . ."

He exhaled, still blanketing the woods with his eyes.

I looked around, knowing exactly where we were and how far away we were from where Keira had fallen. "We were more than two miles northeast," I measured. "The clearing a few miles from the road."

He reached into his pocket, pulling out a book of matches and tossing them to Rosalie. "You know what to do," he commanded.

There was an uncomfortable edge in his voice, but Rosalie didn't hesitate, glancing at me and then shooting off in the direction I'd pointed. I didn't ask where she was going or what she was going to do. There was only one reason why he would give her a book of matches all her own. As soon as she was gone, Carlisle nodded to Emmett.

"Wood and kindling," he requested. Emmett sprang into action immediately, leaving the broken lounge chair on the ground.

Esme stepped closer to me, easily taking Keira from my arms to cradle her gently. "Help him," she insisted. "I've got her."

Though I didn't want to be even a small distance away from her, I knew every tiny molecule of the chair and clothes had to be completely destroyed. There could be no trace of Keira's blood left behind — not even in the ground where we burned it. The tress gave easily to my anger as I knocked down two smaller hemlock specimens and dragged them to where Emmett was already ripping apart two more trees for the fire. Whether the flames were sky high or low and smoldering, I knew it would all burn hard tonight.

Carlisle waited until a large pile was formed, placing the paper bag near the base and then mixing in the broken lounge chair wood within the splinters Emmett and I had created. He created a slow burning fire, depositing small ignited matches around the base of the pile of wood and then stepping back to where we were waiting. Suddenly, a large, vibrant orange cone lit the dark night, illuminating the trees around us and allowing us to see that not only were we alone for now, but we'd also not drawn any attention as of yet. We were far enough away from town that no one there would see the blaze, and I knew our nearest neighbors were more than fifteen miles away. While they might see the smoke, we would keep it contained, and it would be gone before any authorities could be called to investigate. But after several minutes, I realized why we had needed more distance.

As soon as the smoke hit my face, I felt sick, nearly falling to my knees and covering my nose and mouth as the scent of Keira's blood overpowered my senses. I'd thought the smell would never affect me again after being coated in it for nearly an hour. But this was almost unbearable. It had only been a couple of days since I'd hunted, but I was suddenly overpowered by the need to quench my thirst yet again. I knew it was only temporary. I knew the feeling would dissipate as soon as the fire died down, but if I could smell this now and identify it as human blood, I knew we wouldn't be left alone much longer. Even if Keira was alive and well, though healing and still weak, our _neighbors_ would be visiting us soon. The wolves would not be able to ignore this.

Emmett made a small track around the large blaze, creating a barrier the fire wouldn't be able to cross, and we stayed as far from the heat as possible while still making sure everything that needed to burn did so. It took several more minutes for me to regain my composure, and I found a boulder to sit on as the fire crackled softly. Esme found her way to where I'd settled, easing Keira back into my arms and then lifting her hand to my face. I nodded, silently assuring her I was all right. She began to walk a circle around the perimeter of our spot, and I held Keira as close to me as I could without hurting her any more.

"This won't be good enough," she guessed, to which I lifted my eyes to hers.

Without acknowledging what she was referring to, I spoke. "No."

She didn't say anything else after that, and I didn't prompt her any more that night. She was still weak, and until Carlisle knew for certain how much she'd healed, I couldn't push her. But she needed to know. Our problems were only beginning.

She fell asleep in my arms as we all sat there watching the fire meant to consume the blood she'd lost. She never shivered from the cold, and she never asked to go back. I wondered if she would become impervious to the cold now, but I didn't do anything but wonder. Until I knew for sure, I wouldn't take anymore chances with her ever again.

The house was unusually cold when we returned from the woods, and Rosalie came back just as we arrived to the porch. It was almost midnight, and Carlisle moved to make a new fire in the parlor while Esme and Rosalie moved upstairs.

"Edward," he called before I could follow them. "Let Emmett take Keira upstairs. We need to talk."

I glanced back to see Emmett step behind me silently.

I didn't want to let Keira out of my sight. What if she woke, and I wasn't there?

"Son," Carlisle said, gesturing for me to follow him into his study.

A soft sigh left my lips, and I slowly turned to Emmett, allowing him to take Keira from my arms.

"It's okay," he promised me.

He didn't say anything else, turning away with her and carrying her upstairs where Esme and Rosalie had gone. My chest ached as the distance between us grew, and I felt so much more incomplete than I ever had in all my years with Carlisle.

The inside of the library was brighter now that he'd strewn lights around for when Keira sat down here. Her eyes weren't as good as ours, and she required a little more illumination than we did. I sat at his desk quietly, and he watched me even while he spoke.

"I'm fairly certain you were too distracted," he said, "and that's understandable. But we weren't alone tonight. I smelled as much. And we need to be careful."

The high-back leather chair he usually sat in was strangely uncomfortable as I rocked in it slowly. "They'll wait until we're no longer a threat to them to confront us," I said off-handedly. "And they'll want to see her."

He nodded. "Yes, they will. But we don't have to do anything she's uncomfortable with. And she needs time to heal."

I leaned forward over the desk, thinking of the first time we'd all met the wolves and agreed to our truce. It had been nearly impossible to convince them we meant them or any of the humans around us no harm, but over the small amount of time we'd been in the area, we'd done everything in our power to make sure their trust wasn't misplaced.

We never hunted on their grounds. We never caused any inconspicuous circumstances where our involvement in anything would've been impossible to explain away. And there had never been a reason for them to think we weren't abiding by our side of the agreement.

However, this situation with Keira would prove to be slightly impossible to explain properly. The wolves either wouldn't have the knowledge to understand or they wouldn't care that Keira was alive and healing. I couldn't decide which it was just yet.

"We can't hide anything from them," I said to Carlisle. "She's alive, and she's still human so far as we know. There's no reason to lie to them about this. And none of us did this to her. It was an accident — nothing more."

The kind expression on Carlisle's face faded slightly. "Of course. I'm simply wanting to be as careful with her as possible. She needs us all now, Edward."

I bowed my head. "I wish Rosalie understood that. But she continues to be resistant."

To that, Carlisle laughed softly though his facial expression remained the same. "You know how she is when things change," he reminded me. "I'll check on Keira again to be certain she's not uncomfortable, but she needs her rest. We'll have more to talk over in the morning."

He gave me no time to acknowledge what he said as he moved upstairs to the second level of the library, but there was no need. The next several days would be some of the most trying we'd ever had as a family. While it was clear that we all had our own reactions to Keira — some of them good, some of them bad — I realized it was also evident that she'd found a place with us no human had ever experienced. We couldn't have predicted it even if we'd tried.

I left the library slowly, moving upstairs and meeting Emmett at the second landing.

"This isn't bad, is it?" he asked.

I sighed heavily, listening to Esme and Rosalie upstairs. "I don't know. But it's just getting started. Keira needs us to keep her safe. Even if Rose doesn't think it's so important, Keira's a part of us now."

"You know you can count on me," he nodded. "And don't worry about Rose. She's still getting used to all this, and once she sees what we all see, everything's going to be okay. I know it."

Grateful for his agreement of Keira's safety, I bowed my head. "We'll have to see about that."

Emmett grinned a little. "Well, you know you could talk to her," he suggested. "The two of you don't have to be so stubborn, especially now."

He wasn't wrong, and I could see in his bright brown eyes that he was beginning to dislike how Rosalie and I continued to fight. It didn't take much on my part to acknowledge him, but I wanted to see Keira to make sure she was okay. We passed on the stairs quietly, and while he went to his room, I moved on to Carlisle and Esme's room.

Keira was sleeping, and Esme looked up as I stepped into the room.

We didn't say anything for a few minutes, and I sat at Keira's side taking her hand in mine.

She was warm the way she'd been before leaving for the woods, and her color was a hundred times better than it had been earlier. The beat of her heart was steady, and her breathing was deep and soft. I could no longer hear the shudder in her lung as air moved through it, but I could still smell her blood as it flowed through her wound.

"She's still so tired," Esme said softly.

I didn't say anything back. Esme squeezed my shoulder and left without saying anything else.

I wanted to say something, but there were no words. I'd come to terms with everything that had happened in just the last several hours. No more could be done but to allow Keira to heal from her injury. If I'd known upon arriving in this town that I would've met her and discovered this, I wouldn't have believed it. This was so far beyond anything I knew, and there were still no guarantees of anything.

What could I say to make this better?

Images of Fisher and Abigail flashed through her mind, and my face also found its way to her thoughts. Once I certain she was sleeping peacefully and Carlisle was reading his books to find something — anything akin to what he was witnessing, I took my leave from Keira's side, sitting alone in my room.

The darkness outside seemed to envelop the world we found ourselves in, but somehow, there was light trying to break through. It wasn't from outside. I realized it was from within our house. It was Keira.

Rosalie found me in my room, of course, and while she knew I wanted nothing more than to be left alone, she came closer to me and touched my shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

I glanced at her. "Why?"

To that, she held up a gold locket. I recognized it as Keira's, taking it in my hand.

_She lost over two pints of blood,_ Rosalie thought grimly. _I almost missed this. You should give it back to her._

"Do you remember when you died?" I asked instead of acknowledging her.

Her face hardened. "You know I do."

I looked away, grasping onto Keira's necklace and staring out the window at the dark horizon. "It's been ten years since I've seen so much blood."

I didn't say anything else, shutting my eyes and expecting her to leave. But she didn't. She stayed.

The sky began to lighten well before the sun was meant to make its appearance. Pearlescent grey clouds filled the expanse of the heavens, and the dark green woods became illuminated as I sat in my room with Rosalie still waiting with me. In the hours before dawn, she'd moved to a stray chair and begun recalling the first time she saw Keira and the way I'd attempted to stay away from her for her own good. I realized from Rosalie's eyes that she'd never believed Keira was really bad for me. On the contrary, over the last three months, it had become obvious to my sister that I cared very much for Keira.

On the outside, Rosalie tried to look indifferent and angry, but she was truly only terrified of what would happen if anyone had discovered the truth about us. I could concur with her on that note wholeheartedly, so to speak. But she knew now that Keira was different from all the other humans we'd ever encountered. It wasn't only this ability she possessed. Rosalie understood that Keira saw us as people — normal.

A stray streak on sunlight broke through the clouds, signaling the official beginning of a new day, and instead of rising the way I knew Rosalie would expect, I remained sat in my own chair and turned to face her with Keira's necklace.

"I know you want me to give this to her," I said softly, slowly laying the necklace in Rosalie's hand. "But you should do it. You and Keira need to talk."

Gone now were her stubbornness and complacency. Now I could see that my sister knew everything had changed.

She sat still as a statue for only a few seconds, breathing a compulsory breath and then standing from her chair to leave my room. I listened to her descend the stairs to the second floor where Keira was still sleeping, knowing Rosalie would be careful with her words. The day was only just beginning, and whether any of us liked it or not, the world we lived in now was completely different from the one that had existed the previous day.

Though I wanted to give Rosalie and Keira as much privacy as possible, but I was unable to stay away, following my sister slowly until I was standing on the bottom step just above the third landing leading to the floor my house where my room was situated. Esme stepped out of the room and looked at me, but she didn't say anything, turning to go downstairs.

"You're awake," Rosalie said, and I realized she was talking to Keira.

I stepped off the last stair, moving slowly toward the door as it stood cracked open.

"How are you feeling?" Rosalie asked softly.

"Okay," Keira replied. Her voice was rough and sounded like it was still coated in blood. "Kind of hungry, but he said I probably shouldn't eat anything yet."

"Do you need anything?"

There was a moment of silence before Keira spoke again. "Can you help me sit up?"

Still moving a small step at a time, I crept closer to the door, easing in until I could see into the room through the crack. Rosalie was helping Keira into a sitting position. The clothes Keira had been wearing the night before were on the floor, and she was wearing one of Esme's robes. She looked a little more rested than she had upon waking the first time. Was her wound any smaller this morning?

Her thoughts were still centered around her brothers, but she was also thinking about everything I'd told her about the wolves. I didn't know if she really understood how serious this was for all of us, but she knew it was no longer safe. She knew everything had changed. I wished so much that it didn't have to be that way for her.

Slowly, Rosalie held up Keira's necklace and laid it in her hand. "I found this where you . . . fell. It must have come off when you . . . It looks a lot like one I had when I was your age. An aunt gave it to me for my birthday — said it was a family heirloom, and she wanted me to give it to my own daughter one day. I lost it the night I . . ."

The room fell quiet. Keira was thinking of her own grandmother and how she'd only had her necklace a few months before her grandmother died. Though none of this was said, Rosalie understood how important it was to Keira. I was surprised that this one piece of jewelry was what began to melt the cold exterior my sister had put up to keep most everyone out.

"I never realized how alike we are," Rosalie said after half a minute. "Or maybe I didn't want to admit it to myself."

A small smile creased Keira's left cheek. "How are we alike?"

Rosalie thought about the first time she'd seen Keira and how she'd been intrigued by her appearance at school. "Did Edward tell you anything about me?" she asked Keira.

The conversation I'd had with Keira the first night I stayed in her room came to her mind in an instant, and I was surprised at how clear the memory was.

"He said you were attacked and Carlisle saved you. Was there more?"

My sister was surprised at this. She'd clearly never expected me to be so delicate, but I knew she already realized I'd been such a way for Keira's sake. And at this point, she seemed to know I was standing on the other side of the door. It did nothing to prevent her from forming what she wanted to say in her mind and then saying it.

"Yes, there was more." She paused. "My parents were a lot like yours," she began purposefully. "My father was a banker, and my mother was what you would call a homemaker. It was 1933. I was the oldest child, and I had two younger brothers. But I was the apple of my parents' eye. They doted on me. The Depression didn't exist in our house. I realize now how impossibly shallow it was of me to think that way, but times were different then." She paused, laying her hand over Keira's. "I'm not saying _you're_ shallow. But your life is a lot like mine was — full, content, unshakeable. It scared me. Especially when it looked like what had happened to me was beginning to happen to you."

Rosalie paused again, re-gathering her thoughts and allowing only a fraction of the events to come to the front of her memories.

In that short moment, Keira spoke again. "What happened to you?"

A glance at the door in my direction told me Rosalie didn't like that I was standing there, but I was surprised to see in her mind that she understood how I couldn't be away from Keira in the same way she couldn't be away from Emmett. Without saying anything to me, she returned her attention to Keira.

"I want you to know what my life was like because it led to what happened. I want you to understand that I never hated you. I never wished anything bad would happen to you. But this is my family, and I'll protect it with my last breath. I didn't trust you, but you always did what you could to make sure I was all right with your presence. This confused me at first. I've only been like this for twelve years, but I'll be this way for eternity. I don't like change very much."

To that, Keira actually laughed softly. The movement caused a flicker of pain up her torso, and I took a step into the room before Rosalie spoke again.

"I'm sorry," she said, and I watched her move another pillow behind Keira to keep her comfortable. "I don't want to cause you any pain — even if I do it unintentionally."

Keira held the right side of her chest. "It's okay. But Emmett and Edward have been telling me that for three months. I never wanted to change anything. And I never expected this to happen."

I watched astonished as Rosalie again took Keira's hand and rubbed it gently.

"I know," she admitted. Then she continued her story. "As I said, my parents were a lot like yours. But they were different in one very important way. I was too young and selfish to realize it then, but they only really cared about the way people saw them. They neither acknowledged nor assisted those less fortunate than they were, and it was because I was so beautiful and admired that they believed it would bring them all the fortune and recognition they desired."

The thoughts easing through Rosalie's mind turned simplistic and monotonous in nature, and it was then that I realized she was trying to shield herself from me so I wouldn't be able to anticipate what she was about to tell Keira. I didn't move from where I'd stopped. I already knew her story from what Carlisle had told me. I only hoped she remembered to be as delicate as I'd been.

"If I hadn't become this," Rosalie said, meaning her being turned into a vampire, "I don't know if I would've ever known these things. I was 18, but I was a grown woman. I wanted to be married and have a big house with lots of babies and a husband who loved me. It was all I thought I really wanted. And I was told by my parents that it was my beauty that would allow me to achieve this. I was admired by any man who looked at me. All my girlfriends were envious that I had this effect on them. My parent might not have been content with their lives, but I was. No one else could have the things I did, and it filled me with so much pride. I think now that was my flaw — amongst other things. It was because of that I never saw what was happening right before my eyes."

"You were young," Keira countered, obviously attempting to soothe Rosalie as it became obvious that her story didn't have a happy ending — the story of her human life anyway.

"I was silly and shallow," Rosalie argued shaking her head. "There's no other real way to say it. But as I said, I was content. So much so that there was only one thing I wanted that it looked like I would never have."

Keira shook her head, obviously a little confused. "What was that?"

Rosalie didn't hesitate. "To be normal."

I could see on Keira's face that she was beginning to understand, but before she could say anything, Rosalie continued. This time, the longing in her voice was gone, replaced by a bitter harshness I knew she held onto for one reason and one reason only.

"My father and mother were what you would call social climbers. They wanted to have so much, and I was the key to all of that. And in Rochester, the one way you gained more was by taking it. There was one family who was believed to be the best family. They may as well have been royalty. The Kings were the most prestigious family in town. If you wanted to climb any higher than where you were, they were the family you aspired to be. Royce King owned the bank where my father worked. He owned nearly every good business in town."

Rosalie again paused, glancing at me a second time and silently begging me to leave.

I knew this was a painful memory for her, and even though she was determined to tell it, she wanted only Keira to hear it from her own mouth.

As if on cue, Carlisle came up the stairs then, and against my own need to remain near Keira, I followed him away from the room when he beckoned me to follow him.

Rosalie sighed a breath of relief the moment I was gone, but she was still apprehensive. She continued probably fifteen or twenty seconds after I left, telling Keira about how Royce King's son had seen her at the bank and thus had began their "engagement," if you could call it that.

My reactions to Rosalie's presence after Carlisle found her aside, when he'd told me what had been done to her, I was so disgusted. To think any man could be that way to a woman was unfathomable to me. Even though my father and I hadn't exactly been close, my mother had always taught me to respect the women around me — even the ones who were too forward for their own good. To Rosalie, I know it sounded like I resented her, but it was completely the opposite. I pitied her. There was no way I could've possibly expressed this to her at the time. Rosalie was a proud creature after her transformation, a lot like I was after mine. We weren't exactly peas in a pod, but we were too much alike for us to agree on anything.

"I have to call into town today," Carlisle said as we descended the stairs. "Keira's father will want an update on her, and now that I've checked her wounds often enough, I know how long she'll need rest."

I redirected my attention, still able to hear Rosalie but now focused on Carlisle. "How much has she healed?" I asked, more like pleaded even though I was intrigued at the images that found their way to his thoughts.

"The rest did her an immense amount of good," he reported, stepping off the bottom stair and leading me into his library. "Her wound is now nearly three-fourths the way closed. She's still bruised, of course, and she said she was still a little uncomfortable, but with the damage to her lung, I wasn't surprised. At this rate, she'll be completely healed by this afternoon. It's extraordinary, really. And I've only come across one problem."

I paused at the entrance of the library, watching him move around to his desk where he'd already begun documenting Keira's progress in a journal. "What's wrong?" I asked him.

"I've read every medical journal I have," he said. "And I've gone through all the publications from the hospitals I've visited the last several decades. There's next to no evidence of any human ever developing an ability like Keira's."

I listened to his words, noticing a hesitation in his voice, and I stepped further into the library. "_Next_ to no evidence," I repeated. "Then there's at least a small amount. Is it bad?"

He sighed softly, sifting through the papers on his desk and finding a small collection of folders I'd never seen before.

Carlisle had been collecting books on nearly every subject imaginable since well before he'd found me, but I'd read every book in this library. I'd read every paper — sometimes two or three times. My yearning for knowledge and information had been nearly unquenchable. But the papers in his hand were foreign to me.

"I found one account," he revealed. "At first, I was surprised that I'd forgotten it. It was near the time of my human life, and documentation of things then was virtually unheard of. And with the fire in 1666, the idea of any information surviving was greatly diminished. But this was my father's, and it was kept very safe."

I moved closer to the desk, and before I said anything, he extended his hand and gave me the papers, speaking as I began reading.

"There was a woman in London who could do what Keira can do," he abridged from the text in my hands. "At least this is what she told my father in confession. She was a few years older than Keira and much more adept at it apparently. In his own journals, my father never wrote of this, but it was in his records for the church that he wrote about her. He said she was afraid of what it meant and wanted God to take back the gift he'd given her."

I continued to read silently. Her name had been Angeline. There was no last name written. She'd been a few months passed her 18th birthday when the account was written. Carlisle's father wrote that she was a beautiful girl and that it was a shame she might be possessed by the Devil. I scoffed at the closed-minded sense of writing given by the horribly zealous man who neither understood nor cared that she might have felt the same way and didn't want to be burdened with her gift. But I was confused.

"I don't understand," I said to Carlisle. "Yesterday, you said you'd read other journals about this."

He shook his head. "I read rumors, Edward. There were claims. No proof. No documentation of another human having this ability. Even my father's account was biased and unverified. It seems whoever the individuals those doctors had seen were, they vanished before any real questions could be asked of their condition. I'm not finished looking. I swear I will find an answer. But at this point, it appears that Keira is the only one of her kind — alive, anyway."

I wanted to keep arguing, but Carlisle prevented me from it, speaking a little more resolutely when I tried.

"We need to call her father, Edward. If we're going to keep her safe until she's completely healed, we have to give him a good reason for her to remain here for at least another day."

I sighed heavily, tossing the papers back onto his desk. "You mean lie," I complained.

He bowed his head penitently. "Yes."

Though I was unhappy about being untruthful about Keira's condition to her family, I knew how important it was not to frighten them when she needed them to understand. But if we weren't honest with them, how would that ever be possible?

The telephone was still a peculiar device to us, especially because the contraption was still new to many people this far away from a large city. But we had made sure to have one installed in the house since it already carried to lines necessary to hold it. And Keira's family also had a telephone because they'd owned one in Seattle before moving here. The idea of not having it had seemed strange to them.

As he had the night before, Carlisle called into town to speak to Keira's father. Walter Jones was much less forgiving this morning.

"If she's doing better, I want to speak to her," he demanded of Carlisle.

"She's sleeping. And I would prefer not to wake her. She needs her rest, Walter. I promise you she's fine."

"I'm coming out there."

While I was standing next to Carlisle as he spoke on the phone, I became worried. I took a step toward my father, but he stopped me, still speaking to Walter.

"I understand your concern, but I beg of you. Please give her time to heal. She's feverish, and I wouldn't want you to see her this way. I swear to you it will only be one more night. She'll be well tomorrow morning, and Edward and I will bring her home to you. You have my word."

"You can't keep me from seeing my daughter," Walter commanded.

"And I'm not trying to," Carlisle assured him. "You can trust me. She's in good hands. When she wakes later, I'll have her call you."

This time, Walter didn't argue. But he didn't acknowledge any of what Carlisle said, hanging up before he agreed to anything. Carlisle put the receiver down, sighing heavily.

"That was a little more unpleasant than I would have liked," he said with a forced smile.

"What do we do if he comes out here?" I pleaded. "We can't keep him outside while she's laying upstairs with a hole in her chest."

He lifted his hands in an attempt to keep me calm. "Please, Edward. If he feels it necessary to come out here, then we'll figure something out. And her wound isn't as expansive as it was last night. If he needs to see her, there should be no signs of her injury. But she's uncomfortable with her body's new state, and I would rather he not see that." He paused and moved around me where we were in the entryway. "We'll just keep doing what we've been doing. If he comes, then he does. He's her father, not our enemy."

He left me there, moving up the stairs to check on Keira.

I tried not to dwell on the prospect of Keira's father coming to the house, following Carlisle upstairs silently. Rosalie stood outside his and Esme's room, and she looked up at me once I was close. I could see she'd been able to finish her story. Her sculpted eyebrows and forehead were both pinched painfully. Though she always tried to look strong, it was obvious this had caused her as much sorrow and anguish as it had the night it happened. Only twelve years had passed. It was obvious she was still very much affected by what had happened — no matter what she did with Emmett.

It took a little more determination on my part to comfort her. I didn't embrace her. She would never let me do that. Instead, I reached for her hand and took it in mine. Almost immediately, she looked away, but she didn't pull her hand back. The frown on her face intensified, and I squeezed her hand gently.

No words were necessary for her to know what I felt. She was surprised and showed it when she lifted widened eyes to look at me.

"Edward," Carlisle called.

Rosalie pulled her hand away, stepping around me and going downstairs. I sighed and stepped into his room.

Keira looked tired from talking to Rosalie, but she smiled when she saw me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked Carlisle.

The blank expression on his face told me nothing as he sat there still holding her hand after he'd taken all her vitals. His thoughts were centered around the rate her wound was healing and the fact that she hadn't eaten anything in almost 24 hours.

"Esme can make her something," I said to his unspoken observation.

A little hope spread across his face, and he bowed his head. "Of course." He looked at Keira. "I'll come right back."

Her tired smile widened a little, and he traded places with me to find Esme while I stepped into the room to sit at her side. I took her hand in mine, taking note of her temperature and her heart rate. Despite getting rest, she was weak.

She shivered as our skin touched, and I tried to let go of her. She wouldn't let me.

"It's okay," she said softly. "I like to hold your hand."

I sighed softly, caressing her hand. "Carlisle called your father," I replied.

"That's what he said. Based on the two of you acting like the world's coming to an end, I'm guessing it didn't go well."

My own smile was sad. "Something like that," I confessed.

She squeezed my hand. "Don't worry. He'll see that I'm okay when I come home, and it'll be okay."

I wanted to have some of her confidence, but it was difficult. Walter had sounded so worried and angry over the phone. He could come out here so easily, and my instincts to protect Keira were becoming stronger as more time went by. It wasn't easy to convince myself that he was still her father. He had a right to see her.

Silence filled the space between us, and I was content to sit there and hold Keira's hand until Carlisle came back. Probably ten minutes passed, and Keira began to go back to sleep. I heard Carlisle's steady footsteps up the stairs then, followed by Esme, and he entered the room less than fifteen minutes after leaving. I smelled broth and juice. Keira opened eyes then, and I rose to let Esme sit in front of her just as the doorbell rang.

It didn't take much calculations on my part to know who was at our house. I only glanced at Carlisle before leaving the room to answer the door.

Halfway down the stairs to the foyer, a stray thought made me pause.

_What am I supposed to tell Abigail if she finds out about this?_

Fisher.

The closer I got to the door, I could see him standing on the other side. With Kyle.

This was not going to be easy.

I hesitated at the door, knowing Fisher and Kyle were only here to see their sister. Fighting my gut to keep them out, I opened the door, instantly faced with their pleading faces. Even Kyle looked worried.

"Where's our sister?" Fisher demanded.

Looking in his scared aquamarine eyes, I knew I couldn't keep him from seeing Keira. "She's upstairs," I said turning and opening the door wider for them to come inside.

Neither of them hesitated, walking passed me and hurrying upstairs. I followed them slowly, and Carlisle appeared outside his room as we all made it to the second landing. He looked at me, questioning silently, and I nodded. With that, he stepped out of the way.

"She's still very tired," he said to them softly.

Fisher stepped into the room first, followed by Kyle, who eyed me a little suspiciously though his thoughts were centered around his sister and the fact that she was apparently very sick and needed to be at home. Esme was still sitting in front of Keira, helping her with the broth, and when Fisher was close enough, Esme stood up slowly so he could sit in front of his sister.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, his voice elevated with concern. "Dad said you got sick last night, and you had to stay here. I was worried about you."

He touched her face and then took her hand in his. She smiled weakly.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "You don't have to worry about me. Carlisle and Esme have been wonderful. You didn't have to come out here. He says I'll be fine by tomorrow."

Fisher scoffed and scooted closer to her. "Don't be ridiculous," he shushed. "You're my sister. Of course I'm gonna come out here for you. And Dad was too upset to drive, and Kyle and I came out. You look different."

Keira's eyes found mine, and her thoughts were clear. _He needs to know._

I glanced at Carlisle, remembering what he'd said earlier about how Keira's wound wouldn't be as visible now that she'd had time to rest. It wouldn't be enough to tell Fisher and Kyle about what had happened to her. They would have to see it.

Without thinking of what would happen afterward, I stepped into the room. "It's because she _is_ different," I said.

"Edward," Carlisle warned.

I stopped beside him. "They need to know. Maybe they can help."

Fisher turned his head to look at me, and Kyle stepped into my line of sight.

"What's going on here?" he asked, the suspicious tone in his voice increasing.

I moved closer, glancing at Esme and then folding my arms over my chest. "Keira isn't sick," I said. "She was injured yesterday — very badly, and we thought she was dead. But an amazing thing happened. Her body began to heal her wound, and she woke up."

I paused, and Fisher spoke.

"That doesn't make sense," he argued. "How was she injured? If it was so bad, she should've gone to the hospital. Why didn't you tell my father this yesterday?"

"We were worried," Carlisle said. "We didn't know what it meant, and she was very weak. We were trying to figure out how it was possible. It wasn't our intention to prevent you from knowing what had happened."

"It's true," Keira said. She grasped onto Fisher's hand and pulled herself up to be in front of him before easing the fabric covering the right side of her chest from her skin.

Slowly, the remnants of her wound came into view. It no longer looked like a gaping hole, but it was still badly bruised and still looked like she'd been stabbed.

"What the hell is that?" Kyle demanded. He moved around the bed to sit on Keira's other side, seeing the wound on her back and then lifting his eyes to mine. "What did you do to her?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but Carlisle intervened.

"Please don't misunderstand," he implored. "This was an accident. None of us could've predicted anything like this would happen, but we did everything we knew to do after she began to heal. We were hoping she would be mostly healed before you saw her."

Fisher looked over Keira's wound, still holding her hand. "Are you hurting?" he pleaded.

She shook her head. "Not as much as I was. Like I said, Carlisle and Esme are taking care of me."

He lifted his hand to her face. "How is this possible?"

"We don't know," she said softly.

"What does it mean?" he asked frantically.

Keira lifted her eyes to mine again, pulling her robe back on.

"We're doing everything we can to find out," Carlisle insisted. "I'm looking at every medical journal I have, and I'll be able to use the hospital's resources once I return to work in another day or two."

"Do you really think you can find anything in a small town hospital?" Kyle asked incredulously.

"I only have credentials for the hospital in Hoquiam," Carlisle informed him. "But if I need to, I suppose I can call in a consult from Seattle. There might also be a way to request help from San Francisco. I assure you we will do everything we can. Her safety and health are just as important to us as it is to you. You're welcome to stay here for the day and see her progress for yourselves. We have food if either of you get hungry."

Carlisle looked at me and nodded to the door.

"We'll leave you alone for a little while," he said, gesturing to the doorway.

I bowed my head and turned to leave silently. I didn't want to be away from her, but I understood how important it was for Fisher and Kyle to see that she would be all right.

"Can Edward stay?" Keira asked softly.

I glanced at Carlisle, and he smiled for probably half a second before nodding solemnly.

"I don't see why not," he agreed.

Silently, he and Esme left, and I resigned myself to the chair next to the bed.

"I probably need to finish eating," Keira said, gesturing to the tray Esme had been holding.

Fisher never said anything, reaching for the tray and setting it over Keira's legs before she lifted the spoon and began eating again.

I watched her more intently than I had the previous night. The most important thing now was her comfort and acclimation. Beyond that, nothing else mattered.

* * *

_**And as unbelievable as it may seem, we're actually coming to the end of this part of the story. Just a few more chapters, and we're done.**_

_**Also, I didn't want to go into as much detail with Rosalie's story as SM did in Eclipse, but I did take a few elements from that passage, so anything recognizable is all hers.**_

_**Next chapter might be a few weeks out. I'm working on several projects right now.**_

_**See you next time!  
**_


	22. Recovering & Discovering 2

_**Here we are with the second half of the last chapter. Hot off the presses for you! I know it's been a while, but I'm always working on this one. It's my baby, honestly.**_

_**Lots of things happen here I don't know if anyone will be expecting, but I think they would call this a set up. More is on the way.**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but all the crazy kids I made up are, so be nice to them.**_

_**This is unbeta'd, but I fine-tooth comb everything before posting. Anything left behind is all on me.  
**_

* * *

_**Recovering & Discovering**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

The first time I was able to do anything without feeling pain through my whole body, I needed to go to the bathroom. I didn't want to say anything to Fisher or Kyle, but Edward left as the thought passed through my head. He returned with Esme, and it was at this point that I announced my need to have a woman walk me to the bathroom. If Edward hadn't brought Esme, I was sure Fisher or Kyle would've insisted helping me. I was glad for the consideration Edward showed. I knew it couldn't be easy to relinquish control to my brother, but he never complained.

I had to walk slow, and it took longer to get to the door of the bedroom even with Esme helping me than it would have any other time. It didn't hurt to walk or move, but my chest was tight and sluggish at the same time. My lungs worked harder to get oxygen to my limbs, and the tips of my toes and fingers tingled as I walked beside Esme to the bathroom.

"I can get Carlisle if you need something for your pain," Esme said softly.

She opened the door to the bathroom, helping me inside.

"I'm fine," I assured her. "Just don't leave me alone. Fisher might try to replace you."

She smiled slightly, sitting me on a stool next to the bathtub and then closing the door. "We might try to get you a bath," she suggested. "If you're feeling up for it."

The idea of a warm bath sounded more inviting and welcome than anything had been in months, and I nodded. "I'd like that."

She moved to a cupboard instantly, pulling out two towels and a washcloth. A couple of months earlier, I'd been so furiously embarrassed about being naked in anyone else's presence, but given the last twenty-four hours, it no longer bothered me for Esme to remove the robe I was wearing before she turned on the water to fill the bathtub. Steam filled the bathroom, but Esme let me check the temperature before she helped me sit down in the tub. The warm-bordering-hot water felt exquisite on my skin, but when Esme took a wash cloth from the cupboard and began easing it over my chest, I pulled away instantly as a sharp pain struck through my body to my back. My abrupt intake of breath stopped her, and the door opened instantly to let Rosalie and Edward inside.

Before either of them could say anything, Esme spoke. "Everything's all right."

I looked over my shoulder at Edward and Rosalie, seeing similar expressions of concern over their faces — Edward's much more intense than Rosalie's though hers was extremely noticeable.

"I'll find clothes," Rosalie offered, leaving Edward alone as he stared at me.

I knew he was looking at my bruises, but he was also listening — to the way I was breathing and how my heart was pumping blood to the damaged flesh over my back and chest. I wasn't worried about him looking at me naked. The exhaustion in my body prevented me from caring.

"Edward," Esme said. "She's all right. Go help Rosalie and your father."

His eyes found mine, and I bit my lip as I nodded. After probably half a minute, he bowed his head and turned to leave.

"He's so worried about you," Esme whispered softly once he was gone. "This has caught him so off-guard. He cares for you so much. I'm not sure what he would've done if he'd lost you."

Her words surprised me, but given what had happened to me, I could understand how none of them had expected anything like this. I hadn't expected this, but I was no less grateful. I wasn't ready to die, and more than that, I wasn't ready to leave Edward or his family. They'd become such a good part of my life. I wasn't ready to let them go.

A smile crossed my face as the thought passed through my head, and I wondered if Edward was still listening.

My bath was short-lived, but only because I was still so weak. Esme gently washed my hair and made a point of cleaning off whatever blood she could still see before she helped me stand up to wrap a towel around me.

"You'll be healed in no time," Esme marveled as she dried me off and then helped me into the knit cotton pants and t-shirt Rosalie had found for me. "And no matter what you need, we'll all be here to help you through it. It's a promise I would swear in blood if I could."

I smiled again, and she draped the towel over my shoulder before she began brushing my hair.

She helped me back to her room where Fisher and Kyle were pacing restlessly. Edward was again sitting in his chair, and he chanced smiling at me as Esme helped me sit back down on the bed. I returned his smile, but Fisher sat in front of me almost as soon as Esme moved away.

"We can take you home where you're more comfortable," my brother said to me despite Carlisle's offer for him and Kyle to stay at the house until I was completely healed.

"I'm comfortable here," I assured him. "Please relax. I'll be fine."

The worry creasing his forehead refused to dissipate, but he didn't say anything else.

"Would you like anything else?" Esme asked softly.

I thought maybe I could read until I got sleepy again, and Edward rose without saying anything. He returned with a handful of books, doing nothing to mask his actions as he stepped closer to the bed.

"You can read these," he said as he laid the books in my waiting hands.

Among them were _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ and _20,000 Leagues under the Sea_. They were all in extraordinary condition, and I was sure they were all first editions. I would have to do my best to keep Fisher and Kyle from seeing the publication dates.

"Thank you," I said to Edward.

"Yes, Edward," Kyle said sarcastically. "You can go now."

Though I was annoyed by my brother's rudeness, and though I wanted to argue, Edward turned to leave before I could.

"Carlisle will come check on you after you've rested," he assured me, bowing his head and stepping out of the room quietly.

The door closed, and I glared at Kyle. "That was rude," I griped.

"You're _my_ sister," he griped back. "And it's probably his fault this happened."

"It's no one's _fault_," I argued. "Edward and Carlisle saved me. If you want someone or something to blame, then why don't you blame the stupid bird?"

Confused, Kyle shook his head.

I refused to look at him or Fisher, wanting to read the books Edward had brought me but now so upset that I couldn't concentrate on anything other than how impossibly stupid my brothers were behaving.

This wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.

I was only able to read one of the books Edward brought me before I got sleepy, and I begged Fisher and Kyle to let Carlisle and Edward check my wounds at least one more time before I fell asleep. They gave no indication that they trusted either Carlisle or Edward with me at that point, but Fisher seemed to understand that I did. He convinced Kyle to step out of the room only a moment before my attendants appeared on the other side of the door.

I knew by the expression on Kyle's face that he was surprised to see Carlisle and Edward there, but Fisher looked nearly as determined to give them the space they needed to make sure I was okay. Edward nodded to Fisher, silently thanking him, and Carlisle eased into the room slowly, sitting next to me with a gentle smile on his face.

"You haven't had much to eat today," he said as he took my pulse and laid the back of his hand against my forehead. "Are you hungry at all?"

Shaking my head, I lifted my eyes to Edward. "I'm just really tired. Is that good or bad?"

Carlisle sighed softly, glancing at Edward. "I'm uncertain," he admitted. "Usually, if you're tired, you need to rest. It's how the body replenishes itself when it's worn down. But in this instance, I have no frame of reference for any of your symptoms. The only thing I know to do is to keep an eye on you and your progress. Do you feel like anything's wrong?"

I thought about how frustrating it was to still feel a weight sitting on my chest, and even though I could breathe fine and didn't feel sick, I knew there was something still wrong with me. On the surface, I understood that it was because of what had happened to me. I'd fallen so far and had a large hole in my chest for the better part of a day. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before, and it was just as difficult for me to gauge what was right or wrong about anything I was feeling.

All I knew was that I had to sleep, or I would probably start bleeding again.

"Sleep would probably do more good than remaining awake," Edward said from behind Carlisle. "I think I understand some of this now."

Curiously, I stared at him, and after half a minute, Carlisle turned around completely to face him.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, meaning to hear Edward's theories of our current situation.

"Well, she healed the most last night while she was sleeping," he deduced. "While her body is still, it won't exert as much energy, and therefore it can focus on the most pressing matter it's facing — her injury. The instant she wakes, every molecule in her body working to heal her begins moving to other parts of her system to keep her alert and on her feet." He glanced behind him at the open door, and I knew he wanted to close us into the bedroom so he could say what he really wanted to say.

"That makes sense," Carlisle agreed. "It's been almost twenty-four hours since her accident. Another twelve will probably complete her healing process. I just wish there was a way to discover how this is even possible."

The room became quiet as we all processed what Edward had said. I wasn't sure I completely understood, but I knew I felt better after sleeping. And when I'd woken this morning, it had been a much more pleasant experience than it was the night before — whether it was because I was better or because Edward had been there, I still I wasn't sure.

He laughed softly at that thought, and even though Carlisle couldn't hear what was going on in my head, he still knew what Edward was doing.

"We have a lot of research to do if she's almost healed," he decided. "And it's going to take more than just me and the library to do it."

The smile on Edward's face faded slightly. "You're thinking perhaps someone else in her family has developed this ability at some point," he stated, obviously answering a silent question.

"It's the only thing that makes sense about the way it was triggered," Carlisle said. "And in order to find out where it began, we'll need to go back as far as we can."

The way they were speaking caused me to become curious. "As far back as you can into what?" I asked.

Slowly, Carlisle looked at me. "Your family," he said simply. "If anyone else has ever developed an ability like this, that's more than likely where we'll find them. But for now, you should rest. Your pulse and your breathing are improving, and your temperature is holding steady. Another night of rest should be all you need to heal completely. We'll talk more in the morning."

He gently laid my hands over my chest, bowing his head and rising from the bed. Edward moved to replace him quickly, leaning in and kissing my forehead.

"I'll be just downstairs," he whispered gently. "If you need anything, I'm only a thought away."

At that, I smiled, and he stood up to leave.

Just before Edward stepped out of the room, Fisher stopped him.

"Can you really find out how this is possible?" he asked.

Edward didn't hesitate. "Yes."

Fisher glanced at me and then Kyle before he looked at Edward. "Then I'll help you."

It was the last thing I heard before I fell asleep again. I guess I really did need the rest after all.

Gentle, cool finger caressing my cheek woke me after what felt like only a few minutes, but when I opened my eyes and saw Edward there illuminated by the soft golden lamp light, I somehow knew it was well past dusk.

The rest of the room was dark. The first thing I noticed was the absence of my brothers.

"Esme convinced them to return home for the night, but they'll be back in the morning," Edward explained softly, still caressing my cheek and then my brow. "Do you need anything?"

I lifted my hand to his, noticing the crease in his forehead and the generally pinched appearance of his face. Something was wrong.

A small, strained grin creased his cheek, and when I moved to sit up, he automatically reached out to help me. "The truth," he said, "is that Emmett and I left to hunt once you were asleep. While we were out, the wolves found us. I'm uncertain how. We were nowhere near their territory. The only thing Carlisle can figure is they came for you — to see you."

Though I tried to stay calm, my pulse immediately sped up until I could feel it in my throat. Edward moved a few inches closer, moving both his hands to my face.

"We won't let them hurt you," he swore. "But we were expecting this. Not so soon, but even still."

"What are you going to do?" I asked quietly.

The door to the room opened then, allowing Carlisle and Rosalie into the room.

"They're here," Carlisle said, glancing at Rosalie and bowing his head.

She stepped further into the room, and I looked at Edward.

"What's happening?" I pleaded, more afraid now despite his reassurances.

The crease of his forehead and the pinch of his face intensified as he spoke. "They wouldn't let Emmett or me leave unless we agreed to show them you were still human. We tried to explain that you were weak and needed at least the remainder of the night to recuperate. They wouldn't listen. After we swore to let them see you, we left. When I was close enough, I called for Esme and told her. I had to make sure Fisher and Kyle were away from the house before I told Carlisle. Once they were gone, we only had to wait. That was a couple of hours ago."

"We shouldn't keep them waiting," Carlisle said.

Rosalie stepped up behind Edward, and though he hesitated, he still stood and allowed her to sit in front of me.

"Everything's going to be all right," Rosalie said as confidently as she could. "You'll be safe the entire time. I swear it."

"There are only three of them," Edward said to me. "They won't hurt you."

He turned and left with Carlisle slowly, and Rosalie moved to the closet across the room. She found clothes without saying anything, and when she came back, she took my hands to help me stand up.

I was understandably stiff, and she supported me against her for half a minute before I was able to do it on my own. It wasn't as difficult now as it had been earlier. My chest wasn't as tight, nor was my body any longer slow to respond to the commands being given by my brain.

"You're healed so much," she marveled. "Surely, they'll look at you and see you're all right."

I said nothing to her proclamation, allowing her to help me change.

Esme's clothes felt a hundred times more refined than the ones I'd arrived in the day before, and I consequently felt like a little girl wearing them. The stockings meant to keep my legs warm were tight and thick, contrasted by the silk slip Rosalie pulled over my head. A deep blue wool dress with lace-up boots completed my ensemble, and Rosalie helped me from the room to the hallway.

Walking now was easier than it had been before, and I only needed Rosalie's hand to keep me steady as we slowly descended the stairs to the first floor of the house. Edward was waiting there alone with a coat on his arm, and as soon as I was close, he helped me pull the coat on before taking my hand and nodding only once to Rosalie. Then he looked at me.

"If at any point you feel uncomfortable," he said with a small measure of caution in his voice, "just let me know. We'll handle anything that happens without consideration to you."

I nodded and glanced at Rosalie as she followed us slowly.

A more prominent chill filled the air as we stepped outside onto the dim porch that surrounded the house. At first, I shivered, but I was surprised to discover that only the very edges of my fingertips and the tip of my nose truly felt the temperature. Even being next to Edward, I felt warmer than I should have. The coat I wore felt cumbersome, but I knew it was necessary.

"I was wondering about that," Edward whispered. "Very interesting. So staying close to me shouldn't be a problem."

I blushed as we walked slowly along a path that led to the woods around the house. Surprise overwhelmed me as I realized the path was lined with wooden spikes and illuminated by candles. Then I was confused.

"While we waited for Ephraim, I decided it would be best for you to walk this distance, as opposed to me carrying you. The less overwhelmed you are, the better, and also this way, you won't have too much of my scent around you."

"And that's important?" I asked.

He nodded. "For these men, yes. It's very important."

We walked to the edge of the defined yard around the house before I could see the outline of Carlisle and Emmett with three others in the distance illuminated by the candle light.

Once we were close enough for them all to see us, Carlisle turned his attention to me, allowing us close before he reached for me gently. Edward was reluctant to let me go, but after a few long seconds, he released my hand so Carlisle could pull me forward.

"You look much better now that you've rested," he whispered with a smile. "I wish you'd been given more time before this happened, but I assure you everything is all right. Rosalie, Emmett and Edward will remain close, but I'm afraid the proximity we have to you might inhibit their ability to ensure that you're still very human."

I understood his and Edward's words perfectly. In no uncertain terms, I would have to do this all on my own.

It was easy to remain steady on my feet right up to the moment the first unfamiliar man took his first step toward me. I stumbled, and Edward moved a little closer while still behind Carlisle. Instantly, Carlisle took my hand to keep me steady, and I lifted my gaze to the man in front of me.

His tall, muscled physique reminded me of Emmett, but his russet skin so greatly contrasted Edward's that I wasn't surprised by the small snort that came from Edward's direction.

"Ephraim Black," Carlisle said while still holding my hand. "This is Keira Jones. And as you can see, she's still very human."

"We'll be the judge of that," one of the others scoffed.

"Levi," Ephraim chastised.

Edward took another step, but Carlisle stopped him.

"It's all right, Edward. They won't harm her. Will you?" he asked Ephraim.

"That's not why we're here," he said, stepping closer to me slowly.

Finally, it registered that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and I blushed even though I didn't look away. His face was angular and weathered, but not unattractive, and his dark brown eyes were friendly and inquisitive. Had I met him under different circumstances, I would've actually thought he was kind of beautiful. I glanced passed him at Levi, almost stunned to see that he wasn't very friendly-looking at all.

"How old are you?" Ephraim asked me.

I glanced at Carlisle and then Edward before looking at him. "I'm fifteen. I'll be sixteen tomorrow."

"And you've known these people for how long?"

"Four months," I answered automatically.

He said nothing as he reached out and touched my face.

I was vaguely aware of a soft growl coming from behind me and the sound of a hand clasping around a flexed arm, but I couldn't look away from Ephraim as he eased his fingertips down my neck to feel my pulse. Right now, I could feel it still hammering inside my chest.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he promised. "Tell me what happened to you."

The details were still a little disjointed, but I remembered nearly every moment I'd experienced when I'd been awake. With that in mind, I glanced at Carlisle again and spoke as steadily as I could.

"We were out in the woods," I said of me and Edward. "We were just going to spend the day together. We climbed a tree, and we kissed. I lost my balance, and he tried to catch me. But I fell. It's mostly black and painful after that, but when I woke up, he was there. It hurt to breathe, and I couldn't clear whatever was in my throat. It took me almost all day to realize that it was my own blood. I had a wound so large I could feel it every time I moved. I was so tired, but they took care of me. They helped me. They would never hurt me."

It was silent for a few minutes after that, and I thought that was all I would have to do. Then Ephraim spoke again.

"We're not here to dispute whether they have hurt you," he said. "If they had, the peace between us would be over. We're here to ensure they keep up their part of our treaty with them. Do you know what they are?"

"I do," I nodded.

"And you still wish to remain with them?"

"Yes."

"How is this possible?" he asked, but he wasn't speaking to me.

"We're uncertain of that ourselves," Carlisle said, stepping a small distance closer until he was standing next to me still holding my hand to keep me steady. "We haven't had a fair amount of time to adequately research this occurrence, but we have many theories we're meaning to study once I've returned to work where I'll have access to more information. Right now, all we know is that Keira came very close to dying yesterday. She's still in need of rest, and the longer we keep her out here, the less her body will be capable of completely healing."

"Her wound still exists?" Ephraim asked, his eyes unfocused over my shoulder in Edward's direction.

"Yes," Carlisle said softly, "though not as much as it was when it was first inflicted."

Probably half a minute of silence followed, and Edward suddenly yelled.

"That's not necessary! She's alive, and she's human. You have no need to see any part of her."

"What is it?" Rosalie asked, the panic in her voice as obvious as his anger.

Edward huffed loudly, clenching his teeth. "He wants to see her wound."

Carlisle's presence next to me became more prominent as he attempted to keep some semblance of control over the tense meeting. "Ephraim, please. She's only a child. It wouldn't be right to expose her like that. You've felt her pulse, and as you can see, she's still breathing. I swear to you, she's safe with us."

Despite Carlisle's plea, the intensity on Ephraim's face increased, and I realized exactly what he was wanting. He wanted to see it for himself that I could heal the way Carlisle and Edward had claimed. Almost immediately after this thought filled my head, Edward moved closer to me, pulling his arm from Emmett's hand.

"You don't have to do that, Keira," he said. "It's not your responsibility to satisfy his curiosity."

He grit his teeth together as he said this, his brilliant green eyes indicative of the success of his hunt. But it wasn't only Ephraim's curiosity I wanted to satisfy. I knew then as I stood there flanked by Carlisle and Edward that I also wanted to satisfy my own.

Edward looked at me, astonishment filling his eyes. But he didn't question me, turning his attention to Ephraim. "Give me your knife," he demanded, his nostrils flaring slightly.

Hesitation followed as Ephraim looked at Carlisle and then me. After probably a minute, he pulled a small silver knife from a sheath on his waist and handed it to Edward slowly.

"Edward, what are you doing?" Carlisle pleaded.

"It's all right. He wants to see it for himself, and so does she. We need to know as well. Emmett," he called.

The soft crunch of brush behind me caused me to look in time to see Emmett and Rosalie stepping away from the immediate area where I was, and I lifted my eyes to Edward's as he took my hand in his so that my palm was turned upward.

He paused before laying the blade of Ephraim's knife over my skin, sighing softly and grasping the hilt of the knife. Carlisle's hands claimed my arms to hold me still, and I saw a pleading in Edward's eyes before I nodded that I was ready.

"I'm sorry," he whispered gently.

Though I'd cut myself before now, this time was very different as the blade made contact with my skin and almost instantly broke through, indicating that it was very sharp and meant to cut clean through the toughest material. Sharp, shallow pain blossomed over the palm over my hand from the outer edge next to my pinkie joint to the heel of my hand, and blood followed instantly. I tried not to move — tried not to breathe as the pain spread quickly. I wanted to close my hand and staunch the bleeding as soon as I saw it. Edward stepped closer to me and held me still as Carlisle took a handkerchief to wipe away the blood.

For a few minutes, nothing happened. I continued to bleed, and I became dizzy the way I should have from losing even the smallest amount of blood. I leaned into Edward for stability feeling lightheaded and wishing I'd asked to sit down. Then something amazing happened. I had to strain to see it, but slowly, the two ends of my new cut began to close.

Ephraim stepped closer as soon as Edward cut me, and I could see he was just as astonished as I was the moment it began. Carlisle dabbed the blood away until only a small red line replaced the cut, and after another few minutes, I couldn't tell I'd even been cut. Nothing had been done on my part, and I had no control over the length of time it had taken, but it seemed the smaller the injury, the shorter amount of time it took to heal.

"Yes," Edward whispered, agreeing with me.

"Ephraim," the third member of his group called. "How do we know this is not a trick? How can we know they'll keep their word?"

No words were said as we all stood there, and I looked at him to see what I hoped was understanding on his face.

"I've seen it with my own eyes, Quil," Ephraim said with a nod. "And she bleeds even with this unexpected ability."

"But we don't know how she came to have this ability," Levi argued. "We've only heard of such a thing among our own people, and no Quileute would ever allow these creatures near them."

"That's enough, Levi." Ephraim looked at me as Edward now held me in his arms, and then he looked at Carlisle. "It's clear this has surprised them as much as it has surprised us. And we'll need to be kept updated on this situation, but for now, I'm satisfied that none of this was the doing of a vampire. As long as they keep up their part of the treaty, so will we."

Slowly, Carlisle extended his hand to Ephraim, and after a few seconds, the tall, russet man reciprocated. "Thank you for understanding," Carlisle said.

"We'll be watching you," Ephraim warned, releasing Carlisle's hand and apparently ending the meeting as he backed away from us and nudged Levi and Quil away toward the north.

The strength I'd gained almost immediately dissipated, and my knees gave a split second before Edward lifted me in his arms.

"I've got you," he whispered, holding me close and beginning back down the path to the house.

"She needs to rest the remainder of the night if she's going to heal by morning," Carlisle said as he walked beside Edward.

I laid my head down on his shoulder, nuzzling my face into his neck and allowing the coolness of his skin to envelop mine. It was the last thing I knew before I closed my eyes again and welcomed the safe depths of exhaustion-induced dreams.

The smell of chocolate and coffee filled my senses and woke me from a strange dream about a shirtless Edward shape-shifting into a pure white wolf, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I saw the room around me illuminated by bright morning light. For the first time in a day and a half, I was able to take a long, deep breath with no pain, no discomfort, and I instinctively laid my hand over the right side of my chest.

When I felt the t-shirt covering me, I looked down to see I'd been changed, but I didn't remember doing it. I pulled the fabric away from my chest, smiling when I saw pink, unmarred skin now showing where my wound had been the night before. Carlisle had been right, and I felt a hundred times better than I had the previous morning.

Slowly, I moved to sit over the side of the bed, planting my feet on the cool hardwood floor and then rising as carefully as I could. The stiffness was still present, but it wasn't because of my injury. Curiously, I stretched, bowing my back and reaching above my head. A soft laugh reached my ears, and I looked at the door to see Fisher there with a grin on his face.

"Morning, sleepy head."

He eased into the room until we were facing each other, and he gazed over my shoulder before pulling me into his arms.

"You look so much better," he whispered.

"I feel so much better," I assured him.

He leaned back to look at me again, kissing my cheek and whispering still. "Hey, guess what?"

"What?" I giggled softly.

"It's your birthday."

Two thoughts became prominent in my mind as I stood there in my brother's arms. I suddenly remembered what I'd said to Ephraim the night before about how I would be sixteen today, and I also knew how very close I'd actually come to not making it to this day. And I couldn't believe how grateful I felt.

Nine months earlier, when our grandmother had passed away, I'd honestly believed that no place I ever went afterward would ever be a good place without her. While Fisher had been close to her, she and I had been nearly inseparable. Losing her had caused a void in my life I'd been so sure no one else would ever be able to fill, and it wasn't that Edward or any member of his family would ever be able to do that. I still missed her, but now, I knew everything was going to be all right. Her place in my heart was still there, but a newer, happier place had been created by Edward's presence — along with Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and even Rosalie. They were as much my family as my parents and my brothers. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

Clattering and clanking from downstairs reached my ears as we stood there, and Fisher stepped back to look at me.

"I have a surprise for you," he said, taking my hand and pulling me from the room slowly.

Curiosity flooded my body as we descended the stairs together, and the smells assailing my senses became stronger the closer we got to the dining room and kitchen. A new fire was burning in the living room parlor, and even though the Christmas tree was gone, the room looked and felt no less warm than it had a few days ago.

Finally, I smelled bacon and biscuits, along with the savory aroma of my mother's cinnamon pancakes wafting through the air. At first, I was confused. Then I saw my mother come from the kitchen with a platter of fresh pancakes. She smiled when she saw me, setting the platter on the dining room table and then hurrying to me.

"Oh, honey, you're awake," she gushed, pulling me into her arms to hug me tightly. I held onto her like she was lifeline. It seemed like so much time had passed since I'd seen her even though only a couple of days had gone by. "Your father was so worried about you," she said leaning back and lifting her hands to my face. "But I told him you would be just fine. And you look so good. I knew Carlisle and Esme would take care of you."

Tears filled my eyes for no reason, and I nodded. "They did," I assured her. "They all did."

"Walter," she called, "come into the dining room. Everybody, she's awake!"

Within a moment, the dining room was filled with the people I cared for most in my life. My father and Kyle arrived first, greeting me and lingering longer than either of them ever had, and Carlisle and Esme followed. Rosalie and Emmett wished me a happy birthday, and finally, Edward stepped into the dining room — with Abigail next to him.

I hurried to her immediately, embracing her tightly for the first time since we'd met four months earlier.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"Fisher called me — not an easy feat considering where I was," she explained. "And there was no way I would miss your birthday, especially when he said you hadn't been feeling well. But you look just fine now."

I laughed softly. "I feel fine now," I insisted.

She and I moved around the table with everyone else, sitting together with Fisher and Edward at our sides while my family and Edward's sat for the feast my mother and Esme had apparently been cooking.

Astonishment continued to overwhelm me as I sat there eating my favorite breakfast, watching everyone around me talk and laugh. It was like Christmas all over. My father didn't look as upset as I'd imagined he was when Carlisle and Edward had told him I was ill, and for the first time, I noticed how engaged Kyle was with the meal we were sharing with Edward's family. He hadn't been this way since before our grandmother had passed away.

"You sound much better this morning," Edward said softly as we sat together.

"I wish I'd been able to change," I said.

Without pausing, he leaned closer and kissed the side of my face. "You look comfortable," he whispered against my skin. "Rested. And very beautiful."

As those of us who could continued to enjoy the food prepared, I realized something very important about what had happened the last couple of days — the last several months, actually. I hadn't expected to meet anyone like Edward or his family, but I was more grateful for their presence in my life than I imagined I would be. I'd never had a friend like Abigail in all my years at that prominent school in Seattle, and she was the best friend I'd ever had.

My life was so much more different now than I'd thought it would be, and it wasn't just because of this . . . gift I'd developed. I knew now that it was a gift, especially since if I hadn't healed two days ago, this event — sitting with Abigail and my family and Edward for my birthday — wouldn't have been possible. Everything in my life was so much better than it would've been had I never met Edward, and I knew we would face this newest development together.

I was looking forward to it.

* * *

_**Only two chapters remain for this part of the series of stories I have planned. I've got them mapped out, and I'll probably start working on them in the next few days. Ephraim will make one more appearance here before this part ends.**_

_**I know it's late, and for me, it's a weekday, but I hope you all have a good night and a great day tomorrow.**_

_**See you next time!  
**_


	23. Educated Guess

_**Good morning! I know it's been a while, but what can I say? This story is like my baby. It has to be perfect before I post it.**_

_**Won't bore you up here, but just to let you know, we've only got this chapter and one more before the end of this part of the story.**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I do like to screw around with the timeline and the characters.**_

_**See you at the bottom!  
**_

* * *

_**Educated Guess**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Keira**_

After breakfast, my mother informed me that she'd brought me clothes, and I was so relieved to not impose on Esme anymore that I immediately took what she brought me upstairs to change. My father wanted to take me home, and I could see my brothers agreed with him for once. It was the first time I'd seen the three of them agree on anything. But there was so much still needing to be done, and I wanted to help Carlisle find out what was happening to me. I couldn't tell my parents this, but I hoped Fisher and Kyle would at least try to understand.

"You need to be at home where we can help you," Fisher said to me as I finished getting dressed in Carlisle and Esme's room. "We're responsible for your well-being."

"And I'm fine now," I assured him. "I want to help figure all of this out."

He glanced at Kyle who was standing at the door like a guard. "That doesn't mean you can't go home for now and come back later. Everything needing to be done can wait for you to get used to this."

I sat on the bed, clasping my hands together. "That's not fair, Fisher. This is happening to me, not you. I can't sit idle by while the answers I need are just downstairs. In this house, with a man who can help me understand it. I know you talked to him yesterday before you left."

Fisher moved to my side, taking my hands in his. "You're being stubborn just like her," he reminisced with a smile. I knew he was talking about our grandmother. "She had very little patience to just slow down and take things easily. I sometimes wonder if that's what happened to her." His smile faded. "Did she become so involved in something that it prevented her from taking care of herself and listening to the people around her? Is that why she died?"

Slowly, I lifted my hand to his face, making him look at me. "We may never know why she got sick so fast. And you're a lot like her too, so it's something else we have in common. But I'm not going to stop taking care of myself because of this. And I won't wait to figure it out because it's happened so quickly. You're worried, and that's okay. You've always been that way, and it's one of the things I love about you most." I paused, moving forward and wrapping my arms around him. He followed immediately, and I spoke softly. "It's just for today. Edward and Emmett will bring me home tonight, and then I'm all yours."

Fisher sighed softly, holding me tighter. "When did my baby sister grow up so fast?" he whispered. A light chuckle followed, and he leaned back to look at me. "She would want you to do this. So I guess I can understand your stubbornness. And I won't deny that I don't want to know the truth as well." He paused and glanced at Kyle again. "I'll take to Dad. Just make sure you eat lunch, okay?"

I smiled and laughed quietly. "I will. Esme won't let me go too long before then."

The curious grin on his face grew as he stood, pulling me to my feet and then to the door. While he might have been suspicious of Edward before, it had changed. There was a slight amount of amusement on his face when I spoke of Carlisle and Esme. Would he eventually accept them even though it was clear he still knew very little about them?

Kyle followed us out of the room, and when our father saw us — me dressed but barefoot — the worried crease on his forehead deepened.

"Why aren't you wearing your shoes?" he asked me.

"Well," I said with a glance in Fisher's direction, "I'm not leaving yet."

"Absolutely not," he began to argue. "You need to come home."

My brother spoke before I could, stepping around me as Kyle followed him. "She wants to stay here," he said with a definitive tone. "And she'll be back home tonight. She's fine now so there's no reason to worry."

"Fisher Allen Jones, I think I'll be the one to decide when I worry about my sixteen-year-old daughter," our father chastised.

"But I'm not sick anymore," I insisted.

He sighed heavily. "Sweetheart, I know you're not sick anymore, but you haven't been home in two days. You can come back out here in a few days when everything has settled down."

Even though Fisher obviously wanted to handle this, I stepped around him to be in front of our father. "Daddy," I pleaded. "I know you're worried about me. And I know the last couple of days have been scary. Edward and Carlisle told me how concerned you were and how much you wanted me to come home. They took care of me then, and I'm fine now. I'm more than fine. Really. And they'll bring me home tonight. Please."

With a glance in Fisher and Kyle's direction and then my mother, he smirked and brought his hands to his waist, obviously pondering what I was saying.

Then he looked at me. "If you're not home by the time the sun goes down," he stipulated, "I'm coming out here to get you myself. Is that understood?"

I tried to hide my smile, nodding as I spoke. "I understand."

He moved forward then, taking me in his arms to hold me against him. My eyes found Edward as he watched from the living room entrance. A little smile played over his lips as he watched us, and when my father leaned back from me, he kissed my forehead.

"You're really okay?" he clarified with as much seriousness as he could.

I nodded. "I'm really okay. And I promise, I'll be home for dinner."

"You better be," he said, stroking my hair just once and then stepping away to get his coat.

My mother replaced him for several minutes, hugging me as tight as she had upon first seeing me that morning and promising she would cook my favorite meal for dinner. It made me that much more determined to find the answers I needed, so I could get home to be with her and my father.

Abigail and I also said goodbye, and since we knew school would be starting back in a few more days, I promised her we would catch up with everything that had happened over Christmas. She couldn't know about this . . . ability I apparently possessed now, but I hoped with time I would be able to not only tell her, but show her the way I'd shown Ephraim.

"Maybe I'll even help your mother make your dinner," she crooned as she followed Fisher to the door to get her own coat.

I laughed at that, remaining near the stairs as my family left the house reluctantly. Even Kyle looked apprehensive about leaving me with Edward and Carlisle, but he stepped out the front door after our father with a look in his eyes that told me we would both be okay now.

The instant they were gone, I became a little worried, wondering exactly what I wanted to find by remaining here with Carlisle to look through everything he'd discovered from Fisher. Was this really about me and what was happening to me? Was it about our grandmother? I had no answers, but I knew one thing for certain. I _wanted_ answers, and I was certain that this place, this house with Edward and Carlisle was the right place for me to find them.

"Are you sure you want to do this today?" Edward asked, now standing at the bottom step only a few inches from me. "Fisher's right. We don't have to do this now."

I reached for his hand, which he took instantly, and pulled him to be beside me on the step so I could lift my eyes to his. "I could wait," I agreed, "and I probably should. But if I wait, I'll forget so much. I'll forget what it feels like to want this. Today will become tomorrow, and then a week will have gone by. Before you know it, too much time will have passed for this to be as urgent as it should be. I _need_ to know what's happening to me. And right now, it's more important than adjusting or coming to terms with it. I was able to convince my father," I reminded him. "Do I need to convince you too?"

He held me closer, still holding my hand which happened to be the same hand I'd allowed him to cut the night before. "There will be no need to convince me of the urgency I see in your mind," he assured me. "And I won't deny that I wish to know what this is as well. But I still want to protect you from it. Old habits die hard, I suppose."

I cupped his cheek gently. "My father would agree with you. And the sooner we begin, the sooner we can put his worries to rest about me not making it home for dinner."

Bowing his head, Edward stepped back to allow me passage before he suddenly lifted me in his arms so swiftly that I shrieked.

Then I laughed, and within a split second, Carlisle and Rosalie were both in the foyer.

"Is everything all right?" Carlisle asked somewhat frantically.

I laughed still, holding Edward tighter. "It's fine," I giggled. "He just surprised me."

Edward smiled and kissed my cheek, his touch tender for the first time in two days. "Then I'll have to be quicker next time," he mused.

"That was not appropriate after everything that's happened," Rosalie exclaimed, though when I looked at her, she was smiling just as I was. "She is still human, Edward. Whether she heals quicker now or not."

A soft sigh passed Edward's upturned lips as he carried me from the stairs to the library as Carlisle and Rosalie followed closely behind us. "She's just never seen me like this," he whispered to me, opening the doors to the library easily and then gently setting me on the lounge chair I now considered mine.

Curiously, I gazed up at him — really looking at him as he stepped back to sit in the chair across from me. An image of him the first time I'd seen him flickered through my mind, and I was intrigued. He looked so different now — happier and lighter, even after the last two days. Was I really the cause of this change? Was this how I looked to him? Was I different because he was in my life now?

The smile on his face widened, but he said nothing as Carlisle moved into the room to his desk where several books and papers cluttered the space uncharacteristically.

"Your brother was an immense help yesterday," Carlisle began without acknowledging the way Rosalie had chastised Edward. "He was able to get me started with names and dates. As I said to him and Kyle — and to Ephraim — it will be a few more days before I'll have the resources to adequately track your family's history, but he did say you were much closer to your grandmother and might know a little more about your ancestors — her ancestors."

"I want to help," I pressed. "Just tell me what you need."

Carlisle shuffled the papers on his desk around without saying anything for probably a minute, the blank expression on his face changing to determination as he found what he was looking for and brought a small notepad to where I was sitting. "Fisher was able to give me names and birthdates for your father's parents and your mother's, along with your great-grandparents on both sides of your family," he said, handing me the notepad. "But he couldn't think of how any of them were connected to what was happening to you. Did your father's mother ever tell you anything that stood out to you when she was alive?"

Looking over Fisher's handwriting, I was reminded of our grandmother's habit of telling me stories of when she'd been my age. She'd given me my first journal, but she'd also left me all the journals she'd kept since she was almost thirteen. Even knowing that, I couldn't really think of anything she'd ever told me about something like this being in our family. But for a reason I couldn't explain, I knew that's where the answer was.

"She kept journals," I said after probably a minute. "But they're packed away in our house."

"Did you ever read them?" Carlisle asked.

I shook my head. "I never needed to. She always told me stories about when she was younger."

Carlisle glanced at Edward, and I watched them communicate silently before Edward nodded without saying anything. Then Carlisle looked at me. "Start with her. Your father's mother. How old was she when she passed?"

Dim memories of the last time I'd seen her filled my mind, and without realizing it, I lifted my fingers to my neck where my locket usually rested. "She was sixty-eight," I said softly. "We didn't even know she was sick."

He lowered his voice, speaking delicately. "Did she have any siblings?"

I tucked my hair behind my ear, still thinking. "A brother. But he died as a small child. She only had a few pictures of him."

"What about your grandfather, Philip? Did you know him?"

"He died when I was four," I said a little louder. "But she told me about him. She said after he died, there was no one else for her, so she focused on her grandchildren."

Carlisle laughed softly, comforting me as he scooted closer to me. "It sounds like she loved him very much. Did you and your brothers spend a lot of time with her?"

A smile crossed my face, and I nodded. "She had a small farm outside Seattle where we spent our summers. I loved it there. She had all kinds of animals, and there was so much space. I think it's why my dad wanted to move us here. The last few years, I started spending more time with her when I wasn't in school. I don't know why." I paused, frowning and bowing my head. "I just wanted to be with her."

The ticking clock in the foyer overpowered the silence as it settled over the library slowly, and Carlisle glanced at Edward a second time before he spoke again.

"Can you tell me about your mother's family?" he asked gently.

I tried to compose myself, quietly clearing my throat. "They live back east. In Cleveland. We visited them last Christmas, but they live so far away. My mother still writes them."

He shook his head. "So you're not very close with them?"

I responded with a shrug and a shake of my own head.

"Do you know much about your father's family? About your grandmother's family?"

"Only what she told me," I shrugged. "But she told me about them whenever I asked."

Carlisle paused for a minute, taking the notepad and seeming to study the names as they stared back at him.

I recognized a few of the names. It looked like Fisher had been able to remember the last few generations of our grandmother's family — all the way back to my namesake, but there was so much more than that.

"How much more is there?" Edward asked.

His voice startled me, but I recovered quickly, reaching for the notepad as Carlisle released it. "Our grandmother talked about her family all the time," I said with a smile. "She had a way of talking about them like they were — some of them were still alive. She talked about her mother, Rachel, like I would meet her any day, but I never did. There were others. I always thought she meant they were alive in her memories, but now . . ."

Carlisle stood up to step to his desk, retrieving paper and a pen before he returned to my side. "Can you write down what you remember?" he requested gently.

Taking the pen and looking over what Fisher had begun, it was easy to continue, filling in the names and birthdates of my own grandmothers and grandfathers from the last three hundred years. Anyone else probably would've thought it was odd for me to know their names, but when I was seven or eight, I'd asked my grandmother about our family — her family, and without hesitation, she'd begun telling me about them. I wrote until I was able to remember her own namesake, and when I wrote her birthdate which had been around the mid-1600s, Carlisle spoke.

"Angeline," he said.

I nodded and smiled. "She was named after a family member just like I was," I said with a light laugh, lifting my head to look at him and seeing the most peculiar look on his face. "What did I say?"

He turned his eyes to Edward, and just by their hesitation, I knew they were coming to a new conclusion.

I looked at Edward. "What is it?"

The library turned silent again, and Edward stood up from his chair to step in front Carlisle's desk. He shuffled the papers around, finding what he needed and then speaking as he knelt in front of me.

"Carlisle's father wrote of an Angeline who came to his church when she was 18," he said to me. "He wrote that she had a gift and wanted God to take it back."

He lifted his eyes to mine, and in that moment, everything fell into place.

Slowly, every story my grandmother had ever told me meant something else. She'd always told me I was special, but I'd always believed she meant it because I was her granddaughter and she loved me. Why wouldn't I believe that? I thought she told us all that we were special, but now I knew she'd paid more attention to me than she had Fisher or Kyle. It hadn't been because she didn't love them. All my memories of her had changed. She hadn't spent time with me for just that purpose. Now it felt like she'd been watching me. But for what? For this?

Edward replaced Carlisle beside me, taking the notepad and giving it to his father before he turned me to face him. "She was your grandmother, Keira," he whispered, lifting his hand to my face to make me look at him. "Of course she loved you. But it might have been that she was so worried about you that she felt she had to keep an eye on you. Perhaps she knew this was always a possibility, and she wanted to keep you safe. You shouldn't think anything she did wasn't out of love. Whatever this is, it shouldn't change the way you see her."

I focused on his voice and the way it soothed my nerves. He was right, and I couldn't let this new development pollute the way I remembered my grandmother or how she'd treated me.

He pulled me into his arms and comforted me the way Carlisle had tried , and another heavy silence filled the room as we all seemed to process my revelation. Carlisle moved back to his desk with the notepad and the paper I'd written on, studying it intensely for several seconds before he spoke again.

"That you remember this so accurately is incredible," Carlisle said with a slight grin.

I shrugged slightly. "I've always been able to remember what she told me. Along with anything else I thought was important."

Edward laughed, squeezing me gently. "So that's why it took you so long to learn French?" he teased.

I blushed easily.

"When did your family come to this country?" Carlisle asked, changing the subject seamlessly as he sat at his desk.

Shifting my concentration, I again thought of how I'd been told the story. "Well, my grandmother and her family moved to Washington State when she was a little girl, from Michigan in the 1870s. Her father's family settled there when they immigrated from England. That was in the mid 1700s. Before that they lived near Oxford. She said we had family members in England going back hundreds of years."

"And her namesake? Angeline. Did she ever tell you about her?"

The paintings I'd seen of her flashed through my mind. "Only that she was one of the first women in our family to be taught in a real school. Her father was different from most of his neighbors and the townspeople around him, and he wanted her to be able to take care of herself. My grandmother had a few paintings of her. She looked a lot like me."

"Did your grandmother ever mention what might've happened to her?" Edward asked softly.

"No," I replied, almost whispering.

"Keira," Carlisle said, "do you think you would be able to remember more about Angeline if you read your grandmother's journals?"

"I could try. Why? Is it important?"

Carlisle sighed, and a second later, Edward did as well. It was clear what they were thinking, and after a minute, I knew it was right.

"You're thinking that's where it began, aren't you?" I asked them.

A sympathetic grin creased Carlisle's cheek. "It's what makes the most sense," he admitted. "It might be a few more days before we know for sure, but if what Edward sees in your mind is right, then it would be the most logical conclusion. And I don't mean to diminish your grandmother's memory, but she must have known this ability would be inside you. It's very possible she wanted to protect you if something like this ever happened. And it's possible Angeline was only the first documented case in your father's family. This could've been happening for millennia."

He stood up from his desk, moving around to where I was and replaced Edward a second time. "This doesn't change anything," he promised. "We'll figure this out together. This has never happened to our family, but now that you're a part of it, the same protection we give each other is now yours. You have my word."

His proclamation astonished me, but I believed him. He'd always been so honest with me. Of course he would help me now. He glanced at Edward and then beyond the doors of the library as they stood cracked open.

The clock in the library chimed then, twelve times signaling that it was noon. I jumped a little, and the doors opened wider then to allow Esme inside.

"You three have been in here all morning," she exclaimed with a smile. "I think it's time Keira had a break from all the research."

Her rich brown eyes found us, and her smile fell a little. "Is everything all right?" she asked.

I looked at Edward, and he moved in to help me up. "Everything's fine," I assured her.

She chuckled softly and stepped in to take my hands in hers. "Then we'll just go into the kitchen where I've already prepared lunch for you," she insisted, pulling me from the library and leaving Edward and Carlisle there alone.

The kitchen was much brighter than the library, and I sat up at the bar island as Esme presented me with a plate of baked chicken and mashed potatoes. She poured me a glass of sweet tea and then proceeded to clean up the dishes she'd used, and I stayed quiet, eating the food she'd cooked.

"It's cold outside," Esme said after a minute. "But perhaps you and Edward could get some fresh air after you eat. You've been inside all morning."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," I agreed.

After that, she silently worked in front of the sink, and I ate without prompting her anymore.

My mind wandered while I consumed the food in front of me, and I found myself thinking of all the stories I'd been told by my grandmother. It wasn't easy to differentiate the times she'd tried to teach me about our family and the ways she would treat me like I was somehow more important than Fisher or Kyle. They were her grandchildren as much as I was. For all I knew, they possessed this ability just as I did but hadn't done anything so drastic to make it work for them the way it now worked for me.

If Carlisle could find out more after he went back to the hospital, what would he find? Would I eventually die the way I was meant to? Or did this mean I _couldn't_ die? Was it supposed to be this way?

The food disappeared without me really paying attention to it, and Esme sat at the bar beside me once she'd taken my plate to put it in the sink.

"Your appetite has increased," she commented, lifting her eyes to mine and seeing that I was conflicted. She sighed softly and laid her hand over mine. "Try not to be so worried," she pleaded with a gentle squeeze. "Carlisle will figure this out. You're as important to him now as Edward or Emmett or Rosalie. He wants to protect you just as much as them, and he'll do everything he can to make sure you're safe."

A smile spread across my face, and I bowed my head. "I know," I said with a nod. "And I'm very appreciative. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I'm just trying to make sense of it. And I know he's doing everything he can to help."

"Well," she said squeezing my hand again and rising to finish her washing, "if you need someone to talk to, I'm here for you, dear. All right?"

"Thank you," I replied.

She turned to the sink then, and I watched her for a few minutes before speaking softly.

"Did you ever have children?" I asked without knowing where the question came from.

Her hands paused as she cleaned the few dishes in front of her. At first, I thought I'd asked something that wasn't my business, and I tried to apologize.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have asked — "

"No, it's all right," she interrupted, drying her hands and turning to face me. Her expression was more pained now than I'd ever seen, and I instantly hated causing it. She moved closer to the bar island, her eyes downcast as she obviously thought about what I'd asked. "I did," she answered.

The silence that followed was different from what I'd experienced with Carlisle and Edward. She didn't continue for several minutes after her soft response, and I did nothing to prompt anything further. Then she spoke again.

"What did Edward tell you about me?" she asked, much like Rosalie had the day before.

I remembered this part of our conversations very clearly, recalling every word he'd said. "Edward told me Carlisle found you a few years after finding him. But he also said you and Carlisle had met when you were my age. He said you were dying and Carlisle saved you." I paused, unconsciously grinning. "But there's more, isn't there?"

She smiled and reached for my hand again, squeezing gently as I laid it in hers. "My son, the gentleman. I understand he was very delicate in the things he told you about the rest of us. Even after all these years, old habits die hard, I suppose. And yes, there is much more." A thoughtful, almost penitent expression crossed her face. "I did meet Carlisle when I was sixteen. But he was in and out of my life in such a short amount of time. He left such an impression on me. Over the last thirty years, not much has changed in society, but when I was sixteen, Carlisle still treated me as an adult, and he was genuinely attentive to what was best for me. And I never forgot him."

I smiled with her. "That's what Edward said."

The thoughtful look on her face evolved in one of sadness and longing as she continued. "It was expected of me to have a husband and to give him children, but I never wanted anyone after I met Carlisle. I wanted to become a school teacher, but my father didn't think it was appropriate. So instead, I did what I could to make him happy. And when I met my first husband, Charles, he charmed me until I felt I had no choice but to oblige him."

I leaned in closer. "You were married before?" I was stunned. The idea of Esme being married to someone else didn't make any sense to me.

She nodded and squeezed my hand. "Yes. It wasn't the picture perfect facade it appeared to be at the time, and I wasn't happy. He was . . . different after we were married, and he behaved like many men did then. I tried to ask my parents for help, but they believed the problem was something I had created. And when I became pregnant, I knew I had to do something before the baby was born. I tried to run, but he found me. I made it all the way to Ashland, and for a little while, until my baby was born, everything seemed to be all right. But he died only a few days after being born. Afterward, I didn't believe I had anything to live for. And I tried to end my own life by jumping off a cliff on the outskirts of town."

Horror replaced my astonishment, and I couldn't speak for a few minutes as I processed this new piece of information. It must've been so horrible for her — carrying her child for nine months and giving birth to him, only for him to die before he could even begin to live.

"The fall, however, didn't kill me," she said after those quiet moments. "I remember pain afterward, but it was a burning I'd never felt in my life. And I was stunned to see Carlisle there with me. When I woke from my transformation, he told me what he'd done. He told me he'd turned me into a vampire because he couldn't let me die. I wasn't angry the way he expected. Edward was there already. They helped me. And that's how I know they'll help you. If at any moment beyond this one you become worried, always know that we're here for you."

Overwhelmed, I bowed my head, taking in all of her words and amazed at how she'd been able to connect what had happened to her to the situation before us all now. But she was right. I couldn't allow this to ruin the memories of my grandmother, and I didn't want it to. For whatever reason, she'd tried to prepare me for this, so I would know what to do next.

That moment wouldn't be as clearly dictated as anything else had been so far, but I knew I could do it. And now I had more than enough people helping me.

"Is everything all right in here?" Edward asked, stepping just inside the kitchen alone.

I looked back to see him, and he moved to my side slowly as Esme released my hand. "Everything's fine," I assured him. "Did you and Carlisle finish talking?"

He nodded. "For now. I wanted to make sure you were all right. You've been cooped up in the house for too long. We should get you some fresh air."

Glancing at Esme and seeing her smile, I turned to Edward and allowed him to take my hands and pull me from the kitchen. We left the house silently, only stepping out on the porch and sitting on the front steps as the sun attempted to peek out from behind intermittent clouds lingering from the day before.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Edward asked as we sat down.

I shivered from the cold, but it only lasted a moment before it no longer bothered me. "I'm fine. Really."

He scooted closer, still holding my hands. "It just seemed to upset you when we were talking about your grandmother and Angeline. Carlisle didn't mean to cause you any distress. He can sometimes get carried away. We really do just want to understand this. It will help us keep you safe."

"He didn't upset me," I said as I shook my head. "I was just surprised. Things were so much simpler not so long ago, and I'm still trying to make sense of it. You're . . . one of the best friends I've ever had, and I don't know what this means for us."

Edward smiled slightly. "Well, I'm not going anywhere. And I want to help you figure this out. It might be so simple, and we're only making it more complicated than it really should be."

I held his hands a little tighter. "Then I will hope for that more than anything," I chuckled softly.

It made everything much clearer as we sat there close together, and I pushed all the doubts I'd had out of my mind. They didn't matter anymore now that I had him to help me however he believed he could.

* * *

_**So now we know a little bit more about Keira's family, well, her father's family. And now we've heard a little bit of Esme's story. I used a few of the tidbits about her from the Guide. I don't own any of it, but I gave my own little spin.**_

_**Like I said, this chapter and the next are the last of this part, and after this part, a new one could be on its way. Who decides if I post it? You do.**_

_**Believe me when I say I have dozens of stories that I'm writing, and I want to get all of them out here, but you're the only one who can decide if you want to read them. So tell me.**_

_**I've also got a poll on my profile for you to look at some new story ideas. So go vote!**_

_**See ya next time!  
**_


	24. Educated Guess 2

_**Okay, here we go. This is the last chapter. If it hasn't gone the way you thought, I hope it went better.  
**_

_**I'll save a lot of the important stuff for the bottom.  
**_

_**I don't own Twilight, but I do own all three books in the Hunger Games Trilogy! It's Awesome!  
**_

* * *

_**Educated Guess**_

_**December, 1945**_

_**Edward**_

The time for Keira to go home came far too quickly in my opinion, and even though she was much better than she had been two days earlier, I was still cautious. Despite this incredible ability she'd developed and learned how to use to her advantage with the wolves, she was still so fragile. I was so worried for her safety, especially now that if something happened to her while she was at home or school, lies would have to be told of her condition to keep suspicions of her nonexistent.

Emmett drove us into town quietly, his mind calm as memories of his own family began to resurface the way they had when he'd first been changed. Astonishment flooded my body when I realized how much he considered Keira a part of his family now. It was so simple to him — as many things usually were, and his protective instincts were stronger now than they had been in ten years.

"This won't change anything will it?" Keira asked as we pulled through the streets to her house. "You'll still keep looking, won't you?"

I squeezed her against me. "Of course. Carlisle will work through the night, and I've already assured him that I would help. You need your rest, and school starts back on Wednesday, and things will go back to normal just like they're supposed to. Everything's going to be all right, Keira. I promise."

She laid her head on my shoulder and grasped onto my hand tighter. Her thoughts were more simplified than I'd believed they could be after everything that had happened, but I was grateful for this more than I thought I would be. No matter what she'd been through, it hadn't changed how she felt for me or herself. I wanted to tell her how much I cared for her, but it seemed like she already knew.

The lights on her street were just coming on when Emmett pulled into her driveway, but it was still early twilight, so I knew we were within the time frame her father had given us to return. I helped Keira from her seat and held her hand as we walked to the front door.

"I'm sure Fisher and Kyle will help you over the next few days," I said as we walked. "And it won't seem like so much time has gone by when the new year starts. You need to be with your family right now, and we'll have plenty of time to do whatever needs to be done when things have settled down."

Keira sighed softly, taking the steps to her porch slowly and smiling a little smile when I opened the door for her to go inside. "I'll find my grandmother's journals this weekend," she said, still smiling.

I tried to argue with her, but before I could, Annabeth came out of the dining room in her apron with an equally bright smile on her face.

"Oh, Keira, darling! You're home! Just in time too. Dinner's almost ready. It's wonderful to see you, Edward."

She blushed as she said my name, and I grinned.

"It's wonderful to see you as well, Annabeth. I should be going. Emmett's waiting."

"Don't be silly," she said. "There's plenty for both of you. Now, I won't take no for an answer. Go bring Emmett inside, and we'll sit down to eat."

She turned and left before I could respond.

I laughed nervously, trying desperately to come up with an excuse to leave, but Keira lifted her hand to my arm.

"It's okay," she said. "It's about time you sat down to eat with us." She leaned in closer and whispered so her mother wouldn't hear. "Don't worry. I'll help you."

Her smile was impossible for me to refuse, and I slowly turned to step outside and get Emmett. He was sitting in the driver's seat of the car with an apprehensive look on his face, and as soon as I was close, he spoke.

"Is this really a good idea?" he asked.

I tried to look as confident as possible. "It's all right. We do this at school all the time."

He rose out of the car reluctantly. "What about Carlisle and Esme? Rosalie."

"They won't worry. It's all right," I said again. "Just act normal."

No further argument came from him as we walked back to the porch where Keira was waiting with the door open.

"I think we're having pot roast with all the trimmings," she said as we stepped into the house, but her thoughts told me she was saying this for someone else's benefit. "I hope you're hungry."

Emmett smiled the way he always did. "Starving."

Annabeth came out of the kitchen a second time as we all stood in the foyer, smiling wider when she saw us and coming closer to greet us properly.

"Edward. Emmett. I hope you've all been doing well. This is a pleasant surprise. Keira, sweetheart, why don't you go get your brothers and Abigail?"

Keira glanced at me and bowed her head, moving to the stairs to perform her task, and Annabeth gestured to the dining room.

"You two boys come into the dining room," she said. "Make yourselves comfortable. The bread's almost done, and everything else is ready."

"Oh, well, I'll help you," I said, following her to the kitchen.

I didn't give her time to argue, and she solicited my help easily, giving me pot holders for the dishes that were hot so I could carry them to the dining room where Emmett was already sitting in a spot at the table.

The worry was gone from his face even though his thoughts were still a little hesitant, but he didn't say anything as I stepped into the room and set the dish in my hands down on the table.

Abigail and Keira came down as I was bringing in the last hot dish, and Fisher and Kyle were close behind. They all looked at me and Emmett, and their thoughts were indicative of anyone who hadn't been expecting extra company for dinner. Only Abigail seemed happy to see us. It appeared I still had a lot of work to do where they were concerned.

Annabeth brought in the bowls of bread, and a moment later, Walter came in from the parlor with a curious smile on his face.

"This is a surprise," he said, moving around to his chair which happened to be on Keira's right as she sat next to her mother.

She nodded for me to sit next to her, and even though I was still a little reluctant, I moved instantly to the chair beside her. Abigail sat next to Fisher, leaving Kyle to take a chair next to Emmett.

"All right," Annabeth said. "Guests first."

After passing around the food and settling in to eat, as Emmett and I aimlessly nudged the food around on our plates, Walter asked me about Carlisle and Esme, wondering where we'd all lived before coming here.

"We were living in Rochester," I said, pretending to wash down my food with the water in front of me.

"And your brother-in-law practiced medicine there as well?"

I nodded. "Yes, sir. He loves helping people. You could say it's his calling in life."

"Where are you from originally?" Annabeth asked.

I glanced at Emmett. "My sister and I are both from Chicago, but after our parents died, we moved to Rochester. That's where she met Carlisle. Rosalie is his sister, as a matter of fact. Emmett was thirteen when we met him — in an orphanage outside Gatlinburg. In Tennessee. We moved there when Carlisle got offered a position to work in a new hospital."

The looks of surprise on Walter and Annabeth's faces were hard to miss, but they did a good job of hiding it.

"That must have been difficult," Abigail said from her seat. "Moving when you were so young."

I shrugged. "I was nine. I had Esme, and Rosalie was growing on me."

Annabeth smiled. "Yes, your sister is very nice. And beautiful. So Emmett, are you looking forward to graduating this spring?"

"Of course, Mrs. Jones," he replied over his own food.

She laughed softly. "Please. Call me Annabeth. Are you going to college in the fall?"

Setting his elbows on the table, Emmett laughed with her. "That's the plan. I've already applied to a bunch of places. Carlisle put in a few references at Brown and Stanford, but I also filled out for Yale and Harvard."

Both Annabeth and Walter looked even more surprised.

"Yale and Harvard?" he asked Emmett.

My "older" brother nodded. "Yes, sir. They both have very good business programs, and all my teachers tell me I have a good eye for that stuff."

"Well, that's wonderful," Annabeth said, still laughing a little. "Kyle, you could take a page from Emmett's book. Get an early start by applying to college."

Kyle smirked. "Yeah, I'll get right on that."

But it didn't look like he had any plans of doing it at all.

Fisher on the other hand was already taking classes and seeing the school's counselor about his transcripts to start applying as soon as he started his senior year in nine months. He'd already redirected his plans of enlisting toward concentrating on becoming a lawyer like his father. The real surprise was that he planned on leaving Washington State as soon as he graduated, and he wanted to travel to the East Coast to live away from his parents. It was sad and a little disappointing, but he was worried about leaving Keira behind.

I was worried about this as well.

Dinner lasted a little longer than I would've liked, but a few minutes after Kyle excused himself, Fisher had to take Abigail home. It was my cue to suggest that Emmett and I also head home. There was no reason to linger, and after Fisher was gone, Keira followed me to the car to say goodbye properly.

"This was nice," she said. "We should do it more often."

I smiled as we arrived at the car. "It was nice. And perhaps after you've had a little time to be with your family, we'll fall back into a normal schedule."

She nodded. "Okay."

It got quiet, and she stepped closer to me, laying her hands over my chest and leaned up until her lips aligned with mine. There was no hesitation in my movements as I cupped her face in my hands to lean over the few centimeters separating us. She was warmer than she had been before, and her pulse was a little faster. The worry I'd felt over her condition faded a little, but it was still prominent in my mind as our lips touched for the first time in two days.

I didn't want to leave her, but I knew I couldn't stay.

"Ahem!"

Emmett's deep utterance startled me, and I released her lips to lay my forehead over hers. "Everything's going to be all right," I whispered. "It's all going to be just fine. I swear."

The little smile that had formed over her face faded a little, and she lifted her hand to my cheek. "I believe you."

A few seconds passed, and I stepped back, taking her hands and lifting them to my lips before I turned to slide into the car as Emmett turned on the engine.

Keira stepped back from the car, waving slightly and smiling.

I glanced at Emmett, and he shifted the gears to back out of the driveway and get us back to the house.

"This is _much_ more serious than I thought it was going to be," Emmett said as he sped away from town. "You're not seriously thinking what it looks like you're thinking, are you?"

Images of me and Keira kissing filled his mind, but intermingled were memories of when Rosalie found him and took him to Carlisle to be changed. I realized now that he'd been thinking the same thing two days earlier when Keira had been hurt, but honestly, the idea of her being a vampire at fifteen had never crossed my mind. The thought of having her with me for all eternity was appealing, of course, but her body had begun to heal before I could even contemplate following through with such a notion.

"So?" he said, driving smoothly through the wet roads.

"No," I said instantly. "And it might not even be an option anymore."

He dropped the subject after that, thinking about what he was going to say to Rosalie when we made it back to the house.

Carlisle was standing on the front porch when Emmett pulled down the drive and then stopped in his usual spot. I was surprised to discover that he wasn't worried about us being out passed nightfall, but he stayed on the porch until we both stepped up the steps to face him to speak.

"I take it you were persuaded to stay for dinner," he said, smiling a little as he stepped aside to let us inside the house.

"Mrs. Jones made pot roast," Emmett said exuberantly.

I laughed softly, following my brother and father into the house, but with nothing to add, I simply took my path to the stairs toward my room. I passed Rosalie on the way, but we shared no words as she moved on downstairs and I continued upstairs. The inside of my room looked significantly different now that I'd spent the better part of the last two days watching over Keira as she healed from her injury. Esme had since cleaned the floor, and there was a faint pine scent wafting through the air as I made my way to the window that overlooked the woods where Keira had been hurt.

The memories played over in my mind constantly, and I could do nothing but think about everything that had happened. But more than that, I realized how different I was after this new development. Carlisle had told me once about how a vampire found their mate, and I always thought it would never happen to me. When I'd left him before he found Rosalie and Emmett, it had never occurred to me there was another way to exist except to be with him or on my own. Now that I'd met Keira, it all made sense to me.

This was no longer just about me. It had now begun to effect my entire family's existence.

Did I want that to change?

"You look like you need someone to talk to," Esme said now standing at the door to my room.

I turned halfway to see her, but I didn't say anything as she moved closer to me.

"The last few days have been very trying to say the least," she said.

I agreed by bowing my head, and she stepped closer to make me look at her.

"You're worrying about something you have no control over. And you know that. What else is bothering you?"

I tried to think of the right words to express how different everything would be for us all now. Even if we moved, we couldn't continue to live the way we had before this. Surely Carlisle had to know this as much as I did.

"This isn't only about Keira," I said softly. "It's about all of us. I feel something for her I've never felt before, but we all know something that could be just as dangerous for the town around her to know as anything she knows about us."

Esme lifted her hand to my cheek. "And we'll protect her. Of course we will. She's as much a part of our family as you or I are."

"And when the wolves decide we've exposed her to our kind long enough?" I asked, turning away to face the window again. "Or when they choose to ignore the fact that we've never hurt her or done anything to draw attention to ourselves from the people in town?"

"We've never given them a reason to retaliate against us," she argued.

"We wouldn't have to. And it wouldn't matter if we were careful not to expose what we are to anyone else. One wrong move, and they wouldn't give us a chance to defend anything that happened as a result — even if it was another accident."

She fell silent as my words sunk in, and she thought of everything Carlisle had told her about our meeting with Ephraim. The fact that I was right refused to surface in her mind, but it was written all over her face.

"If we live in fear of them, it won't help us protect each other. That's more important that appeasing them if we had a slip in the way we present ourselves to the people around us. I see the way you are with Keira," she revealed. "And I see how she is with you. That's all I care about. We'll deal with everything else as it comes. It's all we can do."

"Perhaps," I said.

But there had to be more I could do to make sure the peace between us and the wolves remained intact no matter what Keira's fate turned out to be.

"Whatever you're thinking of doing," Esme said, and I looked at her, "please be careful. You're as important to this family as Carlisle."

She didn't say anything else, touching my cheek again and then turning to leave.

I watched her leave without another word, turning back to the window as the night went on outside our house.

Wherever the answers to my questions lay, I wouldn't find them waiting for the sun to rise or a new day to dawn.

It was in that moment that I realized who I needed to speak to, and with any luck, he would hear me out before laying down a new law for us to follow.

I left my room less than an hour after entering, thinking of the path I would have to take to keep from alarming our neighbors to the north before I had the chance to formulate a plan of appeal. It was important that I speak to Ephraim alone, and I knew the others wouldn't appreciate my approach. But I couldn't risk them thinking I was weak or desperate. On the contrary, I'd never felt stronger, and I refused to allow a misguided law and an oversimplified prejudice to dictate what my life became now that I'd met Keira.

I stopped by the library where Carlisle had retired after Emmett and I had come home, finding him at his desk with one of his father's journals.

"I'm going hunting," I said. "I'll be back in the morning."

He didn't look surprised that I was leaving, but it was clear in his mind that Esme had already spoken to him in the time it took me to know what I had to do. "Be careful, son," he said.

I saw no one else as I left the house, and once outside, I pulled in as deep a breath as I could, smelling several things that would dictate which direction I ran. The air was cold and wet, and the trees were saturated with moisture, causing their woodsy scent to fill the air around me as fully as any other scent in existence.

But all these scents were to the east and the west. I knew these would cloud my ability to find what I was looking for, and without pausing to detect the presence of animals I might feed on, I turned to the north and ran faster than I had in days.

The night enveloped me as I sped along the forest floor, thinking of everything I knew and many things I didn't. I hoped Ephraim would hear me out, and with any luck, he would agree with me where Keira was concerned. I'd seen in his mind how he believed she was unique and needed to be protected. It was unclear, however, if he believed I was capable of keeping her safe, especially when a nomadic vampire had already approached her when she'd been alone.

I knew I couldn't be with Keira every moment, and it made me anxious when I had to be away from her. But she deserved a chance to live her own life. I owed her that much after exposing her to my kind, and it wasn't her place to sacrifice anything for me or my family. Surely, Ephraim would understand how fragile she still was even if she had developed this amazing ability that could very well prevent her from dying.

The tribe's territory was a little more than a hundred miles from our house, and it took me just over an hour to get there running at full speed. This gave me more than enough time to come up with a jumping off point for what I would say to Ephraim and the tribe if it came to it. Keira needed to be protected. That was the most important thing to me now.

The boundaries of the tribe's territory were easy to spot, and I smelled them before I saw them — all six of them. Ephraim was toward the tail of the group, closest to their land and the reservation of their people. Levi and Quil approached me first, the members of their troupe without the ability to transform between them and their chief.

"You're not wanted here, bloodsucker," Levi yelled.

"I'm not here to fight," I said calmly. "I came to talk. About Keira."

The sound of her name caused a noticeable reaction in Ephraim's posture, but he didn't move toward me as Quil spoke.

"The rules of our treaty stand," he said. "If you attempt to challenge us, we will retaliate against you."

"But don't you understand?" I pleaded. "I can't. You saw what I saw. Keira's as much a part of my family now as I am. We would never hurt her. But I need your help."

Levi spit at the ground the moment I said it, the glare in his eyes even more prominent. "You are not worthy of our help. And if you do not leave, we won't hesitate to defend our people."

"And if her presence in my life makes me worthy?" I demanded. "If her blood is unique and deserves to be protected, doesn't that make _her_ worthy? Because her safety is all that matters to me."

"Then that is your problem now," one of the others yelled. "And she made her choice. It's not our place to protect someone who chooses death over life."

"That's enough," Ephraim shouted. "Caleb, Gene, Edmund, go back to the village. It's clear he isn't here to cause trouble."

Three members of their group, one of whom had just spoken, all turned to leave, quietly retreating to the reservation nearby as Ephraim moved to the front to face me with Levi and Quil behind him.

"You have risked too much to come here," he said to me.

"She's worth it. She's worth so much more than I am. And I didn't realize it until now."

Ephraim glanced at Levi and Quil, obviously telling them silently to leave him alone with me. They hesitated for a moment but then turned to leave without arguing. He waited to speak until they were far enough away to keep from interrupting us, looking at me differently than he had since we'd discovered each other.

"We should walk," he said, nodding toward the trees behind me.

I didn't pause, turning to make a new path away from the tribe's territory, and he followed me instantly.

"You're different," he said as we walked. "Even more than I saw a night ago. It's her, isn't it?"

I didn't mean to smile, but the thought of Keira causing this change in me made the most sense. I'd seen this change in Carlisle when he found Esme and fell in love with her, and it had also been obvious in Rosalie when she'd found Emmett.

"It must be," I said, still smiling. "It is the only thing I have any experience with. Is that bad?"

His thoughts centered on his one meeting with her, and it was clear he'd been impressed with her as a person more than he had been with her ability. "You say her blood is unique," he said, "and that may very well be true. But I think her uniqueness is more than just that. You can see her mind as you can see mine, yes?"

I nodded.

He thought about her blush and the words she'd used when telling him of her fall. I saw in her as I'd seen then how much she truly remembered about what had happened to her, and though I'd been saddened over this more than I realized at the time she'd awoken the first time, I'd known in those moments that I would do anything to protect her from something like that happening again.

"How can you not have figured it out by now?" he asked. "You care a great deal for her, and it was clear to me a night ago that your . . . father also cares what happens to her. In fact, it was very obvious that you all have something invested in her safety. So why do you need us?"

I left his thoughts as his words resonated inside me far deeper than any I'd ever heard in my life — human or vampire.

"It isn't that I — _we_ need your help protecting her, though I'm sure Carlisle wouldn't be opposed to it."

"Then what is it?"

I formed the words in my mind before speaking them more clearly than I ever had to Carlisle. "I need your guidance."

The laugh the followed should've surprised me, but when he saw that I was serious, he stopped walking and turned to face me.

"You can't be serious," he said.

"Actually, I've never been more serious. And I can't say this to Carlisle. He won't understand. And it's because of Keira that he wouldn't understand. None of us really knows what's happening inside her, and I know what you saw. You understand, don't you?"

My words stunned him for a few moments, and he was unable to speak as he thought over what I said. He thought about the way his body had changed when he first transformed, and it was clear that he was at least familiar with the phenomenon of his wounds healing very quickly. I knew what was happening to Keira was somewhat similar to what he went through, especially since she also might have inherited her ability from her family's bloodline. The same could be said of Levi and Quil, but they were more resistant and didn't appreciate the position I'd found myself in.

The reason for this was only just becoming clear to me. Like me, Ephraim had someone in his life who made him different — changed his priorities and drove his actions.

Ellen.

"I understand," he said. "Probably more than I should. But it won't be as easy to guide you as it is a member of my own tribe."

"I'll do anything it takes to keep her safe. I would leave her if I could, but I think that would harm _me_ more than anything else ever has. Please understand that I do not wish to bring any danger to your people. If possible, I would do anything I could to keep you safe as well. But I know you can protect each other. That's all I want for Keira."

In an unusual turn of behavior, he extended his hand and laid it over my shoulder. "Then I feel it's my responsibility to help you. Though you possess an old soul, Edward Cullen, it's obvious you still hold the insecurities of a child. But anything I tell you will be different from what you must learn from your father. I might know what will happen to her, but only he knows what will happen to you."

"I'll talk to him," I said, mentally assessing what kind of reaction Carlisle would have when he realized the same thing that had happened to him was now happening to me.

"You'll need to be careful with her," Ephraim said, continuing to walk further away from the reservation. "If this is all still so new to her, the next several weeks and months will be important for her to still grow to understand what it means for her."

"How can I help her?"

"When I first changed, there was still a part of me I couldn't control. My ability to transform is still tied to my emotions, but the part meant to heal me the way she heals herself is something I can't speed up or slow down. And it still leaves its mark on me," he said, showing his left forearm to me as a thin, long scar marred his otherwise smooth skin. Inside, I could see the bones misshapen and melded to the point that while it wasn't uncomfortable for him, it was obvious it had been painful.

"She'll want to test her boundaries in a way I never could," he said. "And you have to be there to make sure she doesn't permanently harm herself."

"I'll do anything she needs me to do," I declared.

A small smile crossed his face. "Then what I suspected a night ago has been confirmed. You are truly different."

I'd known it for the last several weeks since Keira and I had gone on our first date. I'd probably known it when we went to the Fall Dance together. The way I felt about her was even more obvious now than it had been when I'd asked her to go with me.

There was truly only one thing that could cause a permanent change in a vampire.

"I love her," I said aloud, in response to my own stream of thoughts.

Ephraim squeezed my shoulder. "It's a start," he said. "And it's definitely one I'll tell my children. The Cold One who loved the girl who could heal. The first thing you need to do is be patient. It might be difficult, but if she's so important to you — "

"I'm a vampire," I said with a smile. "I have plenty of patience. But I understand. I know she'll have questions. I want to be able to give her answers. And I'll be careful. You have my word, Ephraim."

Slowly, he lowered his hand and extended it to me. "Then you have mine."

"Thank you," I said as sincerely as I could, taking his hand in mine.

When we parted, I felt more confident that I'd made the right choice in confiding in him. He was more understanding than I'd expected, but he was right in saying that I needed to talk to Carlisle. If anyone would understand what I was feeling, it was Carlisle.

I only hoped he would be able to understand why I'd gone to Ephraim first.

I decided to hunt while I was gone, but it did nothing to calm my nerves. When I made it back to the house, I stopped on the steps without going inside, still thinking of what I would say to my father when he asked me the one question to which I knew he needed an answer.

The sun rose as I sat there, illuminating much more than the world around me.

"You've been out here a long time," Carlisle said, coming out of the doors from the front parlor. "I hope everything went all right with your hunt."

I glanced back at him, waiting until he sat beside me to speak. "It went much better than I could've hoped for."

"And you're all right?"

I nodded. "I'm all right. And I feel much better than I have in a long time."

He laughed softly. "Son, whatever you're trying to say, you can say it. I won't think badly simply because you're having trouble articulating it."

I smiled and bowed my head. "Then I must be truly transparent if everyone's seen it before I have. Perhaps the more I say it aloud, the easier it will be to accept it."

"And what is that?"

"I love her, Carlisle."

His response wasn't as immediate as I'd expected, nor was it as complicated as I'd thought it would be.

"I know," he said.

Though I was surprised, I was also relieved. I wanted him to know how I felt before anything else happened, and I knew that would be the only constant in our lives from now on.

Something else would happen to change our family.

And we would all need to be ready for it — no matter what the future held.

_**To Be Continued . . .**_

* * *

_**There you go! And I know it's open-ended. There's a reason for that. I still plan on continuing this. Will I post it? Dear Reader, that's up to you.  
**_

_**Now for the important stuff. All the tribe's name come directly from the Guide - even Ellen. Who would've thought?  
**_

_**I don't know how the Quiluetes would've really reacted to Edward - I'm guessing not good - but this is an AU story so things will be different.  
**_

_**And I'm making this one complete, so if you've been paying attention, you know what this means! I have a new story coming! Check out my profile for details.  
**_

_**It's been fun. Thanks to all my readers, and those precious few of you who reviewed, thank you even more.  
**_

_**Catch you on the flip side!  
**_


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